Cisco sues Apple over iPhone trademark

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Cisco on Wednesday evening said it is suing Apple for trademark infringement in federal court, claiming that negotiations had broken down between the two companies over use of the iPhone name.



While the networking firm had said only yesterday that it expected an agreement that would allow both firms use the iPhone name for their respective handheld communicators, the company filed a lawsuit after the newly rechristened Apple, Inc. apparently failed to sign the plan before an imposed Tuesday night deadline.



"Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," claimed Cisco senior VP and general counsel Mark Chandler in a statement accompanying the suit.



The networking giant, which released its Linksys iPhone scarcely three weeks before the Macworld San Francisco keynote on January 9th, had obtained the trademark in 2000 but did not believe it had a reason to use the iPhone title until it was ready to ship a VoIP handset that it thought merited the name.



During his keynote presentation at Macworld San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that his company's cellular network-based iPhone had been in development for roughly two and a half years, placing its inception approximately four years after Cisco originally registered the trademark.



Apple has so far remained silent regarding the progress of negotiations and the resulting lawsuit.
«1345

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 92
    >_>>_> Posts: 336member
    Ouch.



    - Xidius
  • Reply 2 of 92
    Teh big suck.
  • Reply 3 of 92
    why not do that @phone too? this was waiting to happen. I can't believe Apple was naive to think that Cisco was just gonna let them use "iphone" knowing the tremendous impact Apple's new product has placed in the phone market in just one day.
  • Reply 4 of 92
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    Teh big suck.



    Why dont apple research trade marked name before naming their products, sometimes steve and his band can be so stupid!
  • Reply 5 of 92
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ChrisDaMacMan View Post


    Why dont apple research trade marked name before naming their products, sometimes steve and his band can be so stupid!



    Apple was aware of the previous trademark, CDMM. I think they insisted on using it because everyone referred to the mystery phone as "iPhone" and Steve probably thought we should go ahead anyway, and let the chips fall where they may. It's far more valuable to Apple as a brand... but damn. Oh, well. It's still not too late to call it MoPho™.
  • Reply 6 of 92
    Sounds like someone trying to piggy back on someones coattails
  • Reply 7 of 92
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    Apple was aware of the previous trademark, CDMM. I think they insisted on using it because everyone referred to the mystery phone as "iPhone" and Steve probably thought we should go ahead anyway, and let the chips fall where they may. It's far more valuable to Apple as a brand... but damn. Oh, well. It's still not too late to call it MoPho?.



    I think this will be sorted out..... some extra $$$$ will have to change hands.



    Tuesday night? Jobs was probably getting some (well-deserved) sleep, so CHILL OUT, CISCO!!!!!!!



    (Could impact the stock price tomorrow, tho).
  • Reply 8 of 92
    tenobelltenobell Posts: 7,014member
    Yeah Cisco will probably give up the name. Now that Cisco has seen their iPhone has no chance in hell against Apple's iPhone. Apple's going to have to pay big for it,
  • Reply 9 of 92
    Only if Steve has a good relationship with the CEO of Cisco will Apple get off easy (they'll still have to pay big time, mind you).
  • Reply 10 of 92
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AjayBot View Post


    Sounds like someone trying to piggy back on someones coattails



    Are you high?
  • Reply 11 of 92
    rolorolo Posts: 686member
    I don't think Apple should give Cisco a dime for the iPhone name. I think (Apple logo)Phone should be used instead.
  • Reply 12 of 92
    imacfpimacfp Posts: 750member
    Either Apple is sure they can this suit or they are totally crazy. Cisco won't lay down and die but they might not be playing fair either. They say they were willing to share the name with Apple but something clearly went wrong. Hopefully this won't de-rail Apple. They don't need more legal trouble.
  • Reply 13 of 92
    Think how much money Apple will make from this phone. They can afford any price Cisco demands.
  • Reply 14 of 92
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    They should just forget Cisco and call it the Macberry...that won't piss any one off
  • Reply 15 of 92
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member
    Cisco has to know EVERYONE is going to call the Apple phone the iPhone - no matter what. Doesn't matter what Apple calls it. It is the iPhone, people will go to look at a Cisco iPhone and say "That's not an iPhone, it's iPhony!".



    Cisco needs to face the fact that they got "Kleenexed" by the press and stock analysts before they ever shipped. They need to get a fair amount from Apple for the actual trademark, but if they don't sell it, they are going to fail with their own phone because everyone is going to look for the Apple phone even though it has a different name. Apple can still call the new phone whatever they want and not loose a single sale, but the iPhone trademark is worthless to Cisco as a long term brand - it is irrevocably tied to Apple by the media attention before it was even announced officially.
  • Reply 16 of 92
    AP just posted a story, and here is an excerpt -- my reaction to Apple's lame response is, "uh-oh" \



    -----

    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.''



    Cisco executives argue that, despite the current dissimilarities between the Cisco and Apple iPhone, both phones could take on new features or work on different networks than they do today.



    Erik Suppiger, networking specialist at Pacific Growth Equities, said that argument is sound in an era of ''convergence,'' when the Internet is increasingly used as a telephone network.



    ''I'd envision that Cisco would be inclined to add cellular functionality to its iPhone. I would not be surprised to see them add additional memory for supporting whatever media functions you might want, either -- they'd be logical extensions,'' Suppiger said. ''The phones may not overlap right now, but they would over the foreseeable future.''


    ------
  • Reply 17 of 92
    over 200 patents and a phone thats not even passed by who, the FCC, and they're already being sued over it. oh boy. seems like no one wants apple to have any fun \
  • Reply 18 of 92
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by a_greer View Post


    They should just forget Cisco and call it the Macberry...that won't piss any one off







    I like it.
  • Reply 19 of 92
    Hey lawyers... Is it possible to win a trademark infringement suit against a company who doesn't sell anything that uses your trademark?



    I could see grounds, in my lack of knowledge, for dismissing the suit outright, since Apple does not sell an iPhone. Yet. Seems that a suit would be totally baseless untill Apple ACTUALLY violates the trademark. Six months is a long way off, and it seems to me to be unreasonable to sue someone for something they MIGHT do in the future.







    I suspect this is all politicing. Same with the intel chip thing. Apple makes an announcement in order to pressure the other party into accepting Apple's offer (remember the airline thing?), or risk public embarassment when they deny it. As to the iPhone intel chip, I suspect that Apple made a low offer, which intel said, "Let me get back to you on that", and Apple attempted to use the public announcement to pressure intel into accepting the offer.



    500lb gorilla tactics (they aint 1000 lb yet!)



    :-D
  • Reply 20 of 92
    There are 4 "live" iPhone trademarks still in use. Apple may have a good chance at winning if they go to court on this. Cisco should have been pursuing these other companies using a similar name. Silly rabbit, Cisco is for kids!



    Quote:

    Serial Number\tReg. Number\tWord Mark\tCheck Status\tLive/Dead

    78581563\t\tIPHONE\tTARR\tLIVE

    78590673\t\tXTREME IPHONE\tTARR\tLIVE

    78318603\t\tIPHONES.WS, IPHONES, IPHONESPCS.COM, IPHONESPCS,TARR DEAD

    77007808\t\tIPHONE\tTARR\tLIVE

    75920329\t\tIPHONES\tTARR\tDEAD

    75076573\t2293011\tIPHONE\tTARR\tLIVE

    75292849\t\tCIDCO IPHONE\tTARR\tDEAD

    75292483\t\tCIDCO IPHONE & DESIGN\tTARR\tDEAD

    74517081\t\tIPHONE\tTARR\tDEAD



Sign In or Register to comment.