Apple sued by Cisco for using iPhone trademark without permission

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juha

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Topic # 11248 11-Jan-2007 13:55

See Geekzone news item here.

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sbiddle

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Reply # 57582 11-Jan-2007 13:59

I guess that was inevitable!

It may not be a clear cut case though - from what I've read Apple may get away with this simply because Cisco/Linksys didn't actually have any products using the iPhone brand.

juha

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Reply # 57584 11-Jan-2007 14:01

Thought they did...

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Reply # 57585 11-Jan-2007 14:07

They simply rebadged existing products using the iPhone name. At the time (only 2 months ago) there seemed to be a feeling Linksys did this because they got word that iPhone was the official Apple name and that they would need to show proof of the TM was being used in the marketplace to have any grounds at all for a courtcase.

This is similair to the way NZ TM laws now work, essentially if a TM becomes a common term for a word and you don't try and do something about this then you face losing your TM.

chiefie

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Reply # 57588 11-Jan-2007 14:17

Well.. you could see this coming from miles ahead, when Apple announced this yesterday. I'd say, Apple deserves what it is given... they don't own the trademark iPhone.

Personally, iPhone is a glorified yester-year's phone made fancy by porschey brand and very limited to offer. It hasn't got anything that my JasJam not able to do aside from multitouch and less buttons. I can see the new young kids and those fashion cautious people seeking attention wanting one, but would they able to afford it? Priced at similar to a PS3, i'd rather get PS3 than iPhone... then again, I won't even want to touch PS3.

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Reply # 57589 11-Jan-2007 14:26

Yip Apple deserve what they're getting.. The simple fact is the term iPhone was trademarked and they then launched a product called that. It will be very interesting to see how this ends up..

I just can't believe how everybody I know wants an Apple iPhone! The god damned thing is months away from being released and everybody has fallen for the hype. I told somebody I'm hoping to get my iPhone within the next month and they're waiting for me to show it off! I just failed to mention it wasn't an Apple iPhone! :-)

juha

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Reply # 57590 11-Jan-2007 14:30

I'd rather have this than the iPhone...

Nokia 05

Whoops, going off topic on my own thread. Sorry everyone. :)

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chiefie

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Reply # 57591 11-Jan-2007 14:31

LOL! good on Juha! beside remind them that, iPhone name is own by someone other than Apple, and Apple is using it without permission!

Apple should get smacked, and i hope their "iPhone" breaks their arrogant confidence! (no offence to Apple users, but Apple is along the same boat as Sony for bring pretty "c*cky"... there are a lot of those companies too... Microsoft is too, Telecom, Vodafone etc etc etc...

.... trailing off topic......

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Reply # 57593 11-Jan-2007 14:34

Juha, yeah N95 with 8GB, and N91 already have 4GB and 8GB... I don't know what Apple is getting its head at... their "iPhone" is yesteryear's stuff.. eeew. (aside from multitouch).

OS X on phone, would need some minimisation, same as Linux and Windows on PDA.

As Jama mentioned in another topic, proprietary product...

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Reply # 57596 11-Jan-2007 14:38

If I understand it right, the iPhone is totally closed - no third-party software is available for it. That won't matter to Apple loyals of course, but personally I think it kind of sucks.

Then again, if it runs OS X, it should be possible to hack it to run Darwin and some FreeBSD things :)

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Reply # 57616 11-Jan-2007 15:18

Before Apple even announced the iPhone, I would have bet that a random survey of one million people worldwide who own an internet connected computer with the question:

"What company makes the 'iPhone'"

Would yield at least 10 x the reponse of 'Apple' than of all other answers combined.

This doesnt make Apple right of course, they are still completely in the wrong if they are infringing someones trademark.

Rock. Apple. Hard place.

All their customers (and hecklers alike) already knew the iPhone by that name before it was even invented/designed/announced. They can still buy their way out of this before launch. Or simply change the name at launch, and they will have had a shed load of publicity under the name iPhone, and probably get away scott free without paying Cisco a cent.

Last thought:

Is comparing Apples and Ciscos the same as comparing Apples and Oranges, or am I trying to compare Apples and Oranges here?
(It broke my brain when that entered my head)
.

This post was not an Apple defence... just thoughts. They should fry for not sorting this name issue out by now (or dropping it and picking a new one. Like iPodPhone or something dumb like that....