六級(jí)閱讀：微軟蘋(píng)果“商標(biāo)之戰(zhàn)” 語(yǔ)言學(xué)家助陣

　　Microsoft and Apple are currently embroiled in a fairly ridiculous court case over whether Apple should be allowed to trademark the phrase "App Store"。

　　微軟和蘋(píng)果最近卷入一場(chǎng)荒謬的官司：蘋(píng)果能不能拿"App Store"這個(gè)詞注冊(cè)商標(biāo)?

　　In the latest salvo, Microsoft has continued its opposition to Apple with testimony from linguist, Dr Ronald R Butters, PhD, arguing that app store just means "store at which apps are offered for sale". Butters has been employed to to refute testimony for Apple by Dr Robert A. Leonard, PhD, which argued App Store was a proper noun that had become associated with Apple. Or something like that. It's all a bit complicated, semantic even。

　　微軟引用語(yǔ)言學(xué)家Ronald R Butters的意見(jiàn)，稱"App Store"這個(gè)詞組意為“出售應(yīng)用軟件的商店”，是通用詞匯(就跟“五金店”一樣，沒(méi)人會(huì)用這種詞來(lái)注冊(cè)商標(biāo))，不能用來(lái)當(dāng)商標(biāo)的名字。蘋(píng)果那邊則聘請(qǐng) Robert A. Leonard教授辯護(hù)，后者認(rèn)為App Store是專有名詞，而且一說(shuō)就使人聯(lián)想到蘋(píng)果，當(dāng)然可以拿來(lái)做商標(biāo)名。從語(yǔ)義學(xué)上看的確蠻復(fù)雜。

　　As an aside, it's funny how both linguists have a middle initial in their name - do you think that's something common to linguists or only to linguists that provide expert testimony to computer companies engaged in trademark rows?

　　跳出來(lái)看，亮點(diǎn)在于兩位語(yǔ)言學(xué)家的名字里都有一個(gè)首字母縮寫(xiě)的中名——你覺(jué)得是語(yǔ)言學(xué)家都有這樣的名字，還是只限于會(huì)為IT公司商標(biāo)爭(zhēng)奪戰(zhàn)提供專業(yè)意見(jiàn)的語(yǔ)言學(xué)家?

　　Quite why a company that trademarked the word Windows should have an issue with a company that has trademarked the word Apple seeking to do the same for App Store is a bit odd. Was Microsoft planning to follow in Apple's footsteps by launching its own "store at which apps are offered for sale" and calling it the App Store?

　　到底為什么一家用windows這個(gè)詞注冊(cè)了商標(biāo)的公司會(huì)和一家用apple這個(gè)詞注冊(cè)了商標(biāo)的公司，會(huì)就app store這個(gè)詞能不能用來(lái)注冊(cè)商標(biāo)吵起來(lái)?難倒微軟也想弄一個(gè)“出售應(yīng)用軟件的商店”的品牌，并取名叫app store?

　　A bit of common sense might have been better employed from both sides rather than paying lawyers and linguists. Sadly, there isn't an app for that。

　　雙方都要有點(diǎn)腦子才行啊不要把錢白白浪費(fèi)在請(qǐng)律師和語(yǔ)言學(xué)家上面。不過(guò)，還真沒(méi)有那一款軟件能解決這個(gè)問(wèn)題。

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