iSue
January 11, 2007
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Posted by Aubrey Turner
It looks like Apple didn’t get all its legal ducks in a row before announcing the iPhone. Cisco, the holder of the trademark for iPhone (it’s held by a company Cisco acquired, which registered it in 1996), has decided to sue them over it.
Cisco Systems has filed a lawsuit against Apple accusing the company of infringing its iPhone trademark, the networking company said Wednesday.
The suit also accuses the iPod maker of using a front company to try to acquire rights to the name.
Cisco accused Apple in a suit filed in United States District Court for the Northern District of California of willingly infringing its trademark when it announced the new iPhone at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco on Tuesday.
Cisco said in the complaint that Apple had attempted to get rights to the iPhone name several times, but after Cisco refused, the company created a front company to try to acquire the rights another way, according to the lawsuit (click for PDF).
Mark Chandler, senior vice president and general counsel at Cisco, said in an interview that the companies were close to finalizing a deal Monday night that would have allowed both Cisco and Apple to use the iPhone name. One aspect of the agreement called for some sort of technical interoperability between Cisco’s Linksys Internet telephony products and Apple’s cell phone. Chandler said the hope was that by making the products interoperable, it would help alleviate confusion among customers, who would likely be target consumers for both products.
The companies left the negotiating table at 8 p.m. Monday with only a few points left to negotiate, Chandler said. Then on Tuesday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage at the Macworld Expo and, amid much fanfare, unveiled the new “iPhone.”
“We indicated that it was important that the negotiations be completed before the launch of their product,” Chandler said. “Our expectation was that our name wouldn’t be used without permission. And it is a surprise when any large company announces a product using a name they don’t have a right to use.”
I can’t help but wonder just what Apple was thinking by going forward with the announcement. Perhaps they think that they own iEverything? Or maybe it’s just iArrogance? Cisco, being twice as large as Apple, has plenty of money for lawyers, so Jobs may end up having his iCrank fed into the iGrinder if he’s not careful.
Categories: Technology
They think they own iEverything, and they are probably right. Given that market confusion is inevitable if Cisco uses the mark at the same time Apple is selling a cell phone, I think Cisco better use this as leverage to get what they can from the deal, because they won’t make it in court.
Well, Cisco has already used the mark. See here.
Yeah, Cisco used the mark… when it was all over the tubes that Apple was likely to release a phone. Actions in anticipation of litigation are a no-no. They sat on the mark for years, and then replaced it when the rumors got loud? Not gonna save them.
Well, I guess we’ll see what the lawyers come up with. Linksys/Cisco has been using the name since early last year. I can’t recall how this compares to when the Apple iPhone rumors got hot and heavy, though.
My understanding is that the rebranding happened Dec 18. In other words, a little more than 2 weeks ahead.
This is designed to force a settlement, and Apple doesn’t have much ground to stand on. These are both big companies with bloodthirsty legal staffs, so Apple can’t really rely on fear and intimidation.
The fact of the matter is that Cisco launched a product called iPhone on 12/16/2006. They bought the name in 2000.
http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3649806
The article calls the timing of the Cisco launch “ninja marketing”, but I think that they basically took advantage of Apple’s own propensity to use vaporware—and this time, Apple got burned.
I also think Apple is overestimating their own popularity here.
Anyway, I would be shocked (shocked!) if Cisco caved in at this point without a nice check from Apple. Cisco holds all the cards.
iHubris, if you ask me.
I think you are overestimating Cisco’s position. You normally can’t recover actual damages in a trademark case—you get an injunction that makes the other person stop using the mark. And you normally can’t recover attorney’s fees. That means that Cisco would have to spend millions (and I mean literal millions) to prosecute this suit… just to make Apple pick a cooler name.
Cisco has no cards. The best Cisco can get from Apple is the equivalent of what Apple would spend in attorney’s fees invalidating Cisco’s mark.
Cisco == pwnd
Cisco is probably just using the lawsuit to promote their iPhone product set (“hey, look, we’ve got VOIP phones”). All publicity is good publicity …
This thing is gonna get settled.