Apple sued by Cisco over use of iPhone name

[Bob Crabtree]

Apple's bright tomorrows don't look quite so shiny now after Cisco Systems revealed that it is suing the company over the trademark 'iPhone' - the name used for the combined mobile phone/iPod that the Steve Jobs unveiled in his keynote address at this week's Macworld.

In its submission to the court, Cisco points out that it has been using the iPhone name on a number of comparable products sold under its Linksys brand and that Linksys has held the rights to the name for a long time.

Just some of the Linksys iPhone range




Apple's contentious iPhone

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[odd_sod]

hahaha fInally apple gettIng what they deserve the hIppIes wIll not wIn thIs one (hopefully). stop apple usIng that soddIng small I lIke It Is cool. and lets hope they don't call It somethIng even more stupId lIke a Ipodphone hahaha.


note the lack of the small I's In thIs whole comment

Itunes sucks and so does the Ipod

[Bob Crabtree]

hahaha fInally apple gettIng what they deserve the hIppIes wIll not wIn thIs one (hopefully). stop apple usIng that soddIng small I lIke It Is cool. and lets hope they don't call It somethIng even more stupId lIke a Ipodphone hahaha.


note the lack of the small I's In thIs whole comment

Itunes sucks and so does the Ipod

Go on, don't hold back, tell us what your really think.

Oh, and don't forget to keep on taking the tablets, they're clearly making a big difference!

[GeorgeTuk]

Welcome to the community...something we ask all new users with great comments like yourself is to hit ALT and F4 to ensure your comment is given a higher rating.

Thanks!

[lost eden]

Yet another example of when large IT companies with too much money (M$, Apple) assuming that they own anything they want, & if anybody complains they'll just throw money at them until they shut up. I mean how much money is M$ still paying the EU every day? Over a million euros? Because of the amount of money that these companies have, they are essentially immune to a large spread of illegal activities.

[Bob Crabtree]

Yet another example of when large IT companies with too much money (M$, Apple) assuming that they own anything they want, & if anybody complains they'll just throw money at them until they shut up. I mean how much money is M$ still paying the EU every day? Over a million euros? Because of the amount of money that these companies have, they are essentially immune to a large spread of illegal activities.

Is MS still paying that daily fine?

Whatever the case, the only way to engender corporate responsibility - in my er so humble view - is to have laws that impact on the directors of companies themselves.

Of course, in most situations, that goes counter to the whole concept of a company but that's something that can be changed.

But, as long as directors of companies can even avoid responsibility for negligence that results in destruction, death and physical injury, I suspect there's very little chance of laws being changed to make them accountable for more mundane stuff.

That said, I don't really see the adversarial situation that's developed between Cisco and Apple - which is more like a corporate game of chicken - as being very much related to stuff like MS's getting the wrong side of the EU.

[TheAnimus]

You have to remeber Apple have a somewhat screw you approche it would seam to these things, apple music for instance owns the apple trademark, let apple computers use it, as long as they kept away from music (now their biggest ipod earner).

Jobs seams to announce things before parters are ready, apparently apple and cisco where in talks, but didn't reach an agreement.

so jobs announced it anyway. To me this is quite a serious one, the apple music one seams a bit like a defunct firm playing dog in a manger, but iPhone. One is a SIP phone (internet phone if you like) the other, is only 2.75G. I know which one i think deserves an i.

That said the linksys iPhone (owned subsidury of cisco) is fugly, and i personally wouldn't buy one, the thouch screen on the apple one, if works, might tempt me.

Surely there must of been a better name?

[damianw]

Is MS still paying that daily fine?

Whatever the case, the only way to engender corporate responsibility - in my er so humble view - is to have laws that impact on the directors of companies themselves.

Of course, in most situations, that goes counter to the whole concept of a company but that's something that can be changed.

But, as long as directors of companies can even avoid responsibility for negligence that results in destruction, death and physical injury, I suspect there's very little chance of laws being changed to make them accountable for more mundane stuff.

Tricky that suggestion, the whole point of limited liability is that you can't be taken to the cleaners for the actions of your company (I think?). Start removing these rights and you'll stifle small companies - who'd start a business if they thought they'd end up getting personally fined by the EU and losing everything they own?

The great shame of M$ is that the US stopped the anti-trust suit, stopping short of splitting them up. Looks like Apple is currently under investigation now, and rightly so - if anything they're a far worse monopoly than M$.

[Fabula]

Apple seem to fail to check out whether names are in use prior to launching products. When they launched itunes, they hadn't checked that someone had been running itunes.co.uk for years, selling mobile phone ringtones etc. They went to court to demand the rights to the name. They had loads of money, so won.

[g8ina]

iFone ?

Would suit the dumbing down of correct spelling of Inglish that our Atlantic cousins tend to favor.

Just my 2c worth ...