I wish the unveiling of Iphone for Apple would have been a smooth ride.
No sooner has Apple Computer unveiled its “iPhone” at the ongoing MacWorld 2007, Cisco has announced filing a lawsuit against Apple in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
The suit seeks to prevent Apple from infringing upon and deliberately copying and using Cisco’s registered ‘iPhone’ trademark.
San Jose-based Cisco, the world’s largest network-equipment maker, has owned the trademark on the name “iPhone” since 2000, when it acquired InfoGear Technology Corp., which originally registered the name. The ‘iPhone’ trademark was obtained by Cisco in 2000, after completing acquiring Infogear, which till then owned the trademark and sold products under that name.
Since obtaining the ‘iPhone’ trademark, Linksys, a division of Cisco, has been shipping new iPhone products. On Dec 18, the company further added new products to its iPhone family.
Commenting on the lawsuit, Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Cisco, said, “Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco’s iPhone name. There is no doubt that Apple’s new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission.”
“Today’s iPhone is not tomorrow’s iPhone. The potential for convergence of the home phone, cell phone, work phone, and PC is limitless, which is why it is so important for us to protect our brand,” Chandler asserted.
Cisco, with this lawsuit, is seeking an injunction to prevent Apple Computer from copying its ‘iPhone’ trademark.
Apple argues it’s entitled to use the name iPhone because the products are materially different.
Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris called Cisco’s lawsuit “silly” and said there are already several other companies using the name iPhone for VoIP products.
“We believe that Cisco’s U.S. trademark registration is tenuous at best,” she said. “Apple’s the first company to use the iPhone name for a cell phone. And if Cisco wants to challenge us on it, we’re very confident we will prevail.”
Before the lawsuit was announced, Apple’s shares closed up $4.43 to $97 during regular trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Apple shares fell 62 cents to $96.38 in after-hours trading.
Cisco’s shares closed up 21 cents to $28.68 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. In after-hours trading, Cisco shares gained 7 cents to $28.75.
Information Technology