iSuit! Cisco Sues Apple Over iPhone Name

By Mike McGann
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Negotiations between Cisco Systems and Apple over use of the trademark "iPhone" appear to have broken down and Cisco now plans to sue Apple, claiming a violation of trademark.

Cisco announced the suit it filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Apple, Inc., "seeking to prevent Apple from infringing upon and deliberately copying and using Cisco's registered iPhone trademark," according to a company statement.

Cisco claims that it obtained the iPhone trademark in 2000 after completing the acquisition of Infogear, which reportedly previously owned the mark and sold iPhone products for several years. Infogear's original filing for the trademark dates to March 20, 1996. Linksys, a division of Cisco, has been shipping a new family of iPhone products since early last year. On Dec. 18, Linksys expanded the iPhone family with additional products. Yesterday, Apple announced a new cellular phone/computer/iPod using the same name. Apple has not responded as yet to the filing of the suit, but word around the industry was that negotiations between the two companies were underway — the filing suggests those talks broke down.

"Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," said Mark Chandler, senior vice president and general counsel, Cisco in a company statement. "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 concluded.

With its lawsuit, Cisco is seeking injunctive relief to prevent Apple from copying Cisco's iPhone trademark, essentially seeking a court order stopping Apple from selling its new phone device with the name "iPhone." For more information on the Cisco iPhone product line, please visit www.linksys.com/iphone.