iSue You: Cisco Sues Apple To Protect iPhone Trademark
The devices pictured here are part of a family of VoiP devices that Cisco Systems has been marketing under the iPhone name for some time. Well, since last month, actually.
Be that as it may, Cisco appears to have a solid claim on the iPhone trademark - it says it acquired the mark when it purchased Infogear in 2000. And to hear Cisco tell it, there have been “extensive” negotiations going on with Apple, because Apple wanted to use the iPhone name for its new wireless phone/iPod device. It appears papers were drawn up, but Apple never signed them.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday is “silly”, according to Apple. Their company spokeswoman says Cisco’s trademark is “tenuous” because companies other than Cisco have been using the iPhone name to market VoiP devices. ”If Cisco wants to challenge us on it,” says Apple, “we are confident that we will prevail.”
Confident enough to risk a gillion dollars marketing its revolutionary wireless device under a name owned by someone else. Could it be that Steve Jobs’ ego is speaking louder than his own lawyers? It’s hard to imagine any sane corporate lawyer advising his client to do this, if Cisco’s statements are true.
Instead of iPhone, Apple should have picked another nice fruit name for their new wireless device. Something catchy.
BlackBerry! Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Apple, Cisco, iPhone, BlackBerry, Infogear, trademark lawsuit
[via Cisco, Mercury News]
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