Cisco bites Apple
Cisco Systems is suing Apple over the name of its new iPhone.
Cisco filed suit Jan. 10 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, alleging the use of the name violates its trademark. The legal action came one day after Apple CEO Steve Jobs publicly introduced the device at the MacWorld show to near unanimous laudatory reviews.
The iPhone combines a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and an Internet communications device into a lightweight handheld device that provides desktop-class email, Web browsing, maps and searching.
Cisco said in a statement that it filed the suit only after five years of talks to share the iPhone name broke off. The giant manufacturer of networking and telecom products, said Apple then opted to introduce the iPhone without legal right to its name.
Cisco said it has owned the trademark since 2000. Apple called the suit silly and said that because the two products are different they should both be allowed to use the iPhone name. Apple's product is a cell-phone and Cisco'\s is an Internet-based information and entertainment manager.
About the Author
David Hubler is senior editor of Washington Technology. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidHubler.