Cisco to sue Apple over iPhone trademark
By Kevin Allison in San Francisco
Published: January 11 2007 00:10 | Last updated: January 11 2007
00:37
The celebration surrounding the launch of Apple’s new iPhone mobile
handset was cut short on Wednesday after Cisco Systems, which owns
the rights to the iPhone name, said it would sue Apple for
trademark infringement.
In a statement issued after the close of trading on Wednesday, the
world’s biggest maker of data networking equipment said it would
seek an injunction to prevent Apple from brandishing the
mark.
“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.
“There is no doubt that Apple’s new phone is very exciting, but
they should not be using our trademark without our
permission.”
Cisco, which acuired the iPhone trademark through an acquisition in
2000, said said as recently as Tuesday that it had been in
discussions and expected to reach a final agreement with Apple
about the use of the iPhone name.
“Cisco’s trademark lawsuit is silly,” an Apple spokesman told the
Financial Times. “There are already several companies using the
name iPhone for VoIP. We are the first company to ever use the
iPhone name for a cell phone and if Cisco wants to challenge us
we’re confident we will prevail.”
Last month Cisco’s Linksys wireless networking division began
shipping its own iPhone cordless handsets. The phones allow
customers to make telephone calls both over the internet and over a
standard fixed line connection.
The Cisco lawsuit marks the latest in a series of intellectual
property troubles for Apple.
Last year, the maker of Macintosh computers and iPod personal music
players agreed to pay $100m to settle a long-running patent dispute
with Creative, a Singapore-based music player rival.
Apple also fought off a lawsuit by Apple Corps, the Beatles’ record
label, which last year sought to stop Apple from using the Apple
name in connection with its online music service. The company’s
iTunes music software also faced challenges from governments in
Europe last year, most notably in France.
Apple’s shares fell 0.7 per cent in after hours trading following
news of the suit. They had climbed 4.5 per cent during regular
trading, adding to a gain of more than 8 per cent on Tuesday after
Steve Jobs, chief executive, unveiled Apple’s iPhone at the
company’s annual MacWorld trade show in San Francisco.
Mr Jobs said on Tuesday that the company expects to ship the first
of its iPhones to US customers in June.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
