A semantic battle is brewing in Australia as Apple fights to defend its “App Store” trademark – a similar issue to that which has already led to action in the US and Europe.

The iOS company is the federal courts, in an action against the country’s Registrar of Trademarks.

ZDNet reports that Apple took the registrar to court in March after initial acceptance of the ‘App Store’ trademark was revoked, both by the trademark examiner and by the Australian Trade Marks Office.

The Cupertino giant lost its appeal to both authorities.

The federal court is now weighing up evidence given by linguists, from both camps, about what ‘app’ really refers to in the App Store context.

Counsel for Apple, reports ZDNet, argues that although the term ‘app’ existed before Apple sought to trademark ‘App Store’ in 2008, the company has changed the definition of the word following the release of the iPhone.

Apple’s coining of ‘App Store’, they argue, is altogether different from what app means in, say, ‘killer app’, a phrase that can be traced back to 1998.

The case continues.