Cisco VP Explains Lawsuit Against Apple

Dekortage writes "The day after Apple announced its iPhone, Cisco sued over the name. Mark Chandler, Cisco's SVP and General Counsel, has posted an explanation of the suit on his blog: 'For the last few weeks, we have been in serious discussions with Apple over how the two companies could work together and share the iPhone trademark. ...I was surprised and disappointed when Apple decided to go ahead and announce their new product with our trademarked name without reaching an agreement. It was essentially the equivalent of "we're too busy."' What did Cisco want? '[We] wanted an open approach. We hoped our products could interoperate in the future.'" Another reader wrote to mention that already, Cisco's trademark might be in trouble in Europe.

Comments

Just like iTV....

[mahju]

Hmm it was only a couple of months ago that Apple announced, to its developers and the world, the "iTV" (also the name of a UK TV channel - gasp - the horror, what will they do!) , which then this week changed to Apple TV.

Now Apple announces the iPhone to the world (also the name of an existing product - gasp - the horror, what will they do!)... Hmmm me thinks the "Apple Phone" or similar is on its way...

Re:Cringely's opinion

[shotgunsaint]

I can't wait to get my apple-branded post hole diggers so I can make an aHole.

Re:MOD UP: Mod points going to Mac users today?

[DJCacophony]

The iphone trademark was in use by what is now a subsidiary of Cisco long, long, long before Apple even thought of considering using the name.

On a completely unrelated note, Cisco is in no way in danger of losing their trademark in Europe. You don't automatically lose the trademark if you don't use it for five years. Five years is just the minimum time you have to wait before applying for a decision on their trademark revocation. The judge will take one look at the application, note that Cisco is currently using the trademark (IE, it wasn't trademark "parking"), and rule against it.