Cisco Sues Apple Over iPhone

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

12 January 2007

Technology firm, Cisco announced on Wednesday that it has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Apple, Inc., seeking to prevent Apple from infringing upon Cisco's registered iPhone trademark.

Cisco obtained the iPhone trademark in 2000 after completing the acquisition of Infogear, which previously owned the mark and sold iPhone products for several years. Infogear's original filing for the trademark dates to March 20, 1996.

According to Cisco, Linksys, one of its divisions, has been shipping a new family of iPhone products since early last year. On December 18, Linksys expanded the iPhone family with additional products.

"Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," Mark Chandler, senior vice president and general counsel of Cisco stated on Wedneday, continuing:

"There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission."

With its lawsuit, Cisco is seeking injunctive relief to prevent Apple from using the iPhone trademark.

Apple's newly launched iPhone combines three products - a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and an Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching.

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