and mainstream press Bits Blog from The New York Times Company and the BBC News Online published that the partner mentioned in the memo could be one of Microsoft's retail partners, German company Metro AG, as the name had the potential to infringe on their "Metro" trademark. Microsoft later stated that the reason for de-emphasizing the name was not related to any current litigation, and that "Metro" was only an internal project codename, despite having heavily promoted the brand to the public. In some contexts, the company began using the term "Modern" or the more generic "Windows 8" modifier to refer to the new design, possibly as a placeholder. In September 2012, "Microsoft design language" was adopted as the official name for the design style. The term was used on Microsoft Developer Network documentation and at the 2012 Microsoft Build conference to refer to the design language. In a related change, Microsoft dropped use of the phrase "Metro-style apps" to refer to mobile apps distributed via Windows Store. See also Carbon Design System by IBM Flat design Skeuomorph design Human interface guidelines Windows Aero Universal Windows Platform apps References External links Microsoft by the Numbers website Modern Design at Microsoft (Archive) UX guidelines for Windows Store apps on MSDN Design Guidelines for Windows Phone on MSDN Design language Graphical user interfaces Touch user interfaces Windows 8 Windows Phone