The new iPhone from Apple promises to be another hit for the Cupertino based giant, but how will it fare when doing battle with another valley great; Cisco Systems?
“Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco’s iPhone name,” said Mark Chandler, senior vice president and general counsel, Cisco. “There is no doubt that Apple’s new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission.” - source, The Economic Times.
iPhone is a trademark currently in use by Cisco's Linksys brand for a WiFi phone that is every bit as "cool" as the Apple version, although not as heavily hyped. The Cisco iPhone promises to replace cell phones for consumers who don't venture too far from home but like the convenience of being untethered.
According to Jim Cramer of The Street, the real reason Cisco is suing is because they want Apple to open up iTV to allow interface to Cisco products. Apple has the kids, and Cisco wants a bite of the youth-oriented Apple.
Why would Apple go after a trademark that they clearly knew belonged to Cisco? According to Tom Keating of TMC , they must have felt that they could make a case as others have also claimed this very simple name.
Per Keating, " Obviously, Apple must think they have a legal case in fighting Cisco on this. So what are the possible legal issues that would give Apple a strong case? The NBC News reporter told me he spoke with some patent and trademark attorney experts and they believe that Apple thinks there are other companies out there with goods or services called iPhone, not just Cisco. in effect, Cisco has not been protecting the trademark. The other possibility is that Cisco had abandoned the trademark and not used it for a period of time. In fact, this seems to be true since the Linksys CIT200 and the Linksys CIT310, (both of which I reviewed) are now called the iPhone and were only recently renamed on December 18th.. Specifically, each Linksys/Cisco product is called the Cordless Internet Telephony Kit or iPhone for short. Although they're keeping the CIT### for customers to determine the exact model within the iPhone "family". I guess you would call it the CIT200 iPhone and the CIT310 iPhone. The PDF manuals still reference the old name, such as this manual for the CIT200 and I couldn't find a single reference to the word "iPhone" in the manual even though I see "iPhone®" with the registered trademark throughout their website. I guess they missed that. Time to re-print/convert those PDFs!....Another argument that trademark experts are saying is that Cisco in effect let their trademark expire and only brought it back later AFTER Apple had already brought to market a family of marks and products with the letter "i""
Personally, I wouldn't be so sure that Apple will win! Cisco has an advantage as they actually make the broadband connections and home based Internet equipment that Apple will leverage. They understand this playing field much better than Apple. Secondly, Cisco acquired the trademark iPhone during their 2000 Acquisition of Infogear. Infogear received this trademark in 1996 - giving Cisco a 10-year lead over Apple on the rights to this name.
A settlement could be possible if the two giants agree to collaborate on the next great technical revolution; the battle for who controls your living room.
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