February 15th, 2007
Cisco v. Apple: Both sides "still working" as deadline looms
[Update: Cisco grants Apple another extension]
Two weeks ago, Cisco and Apple agreed to extend talks until February 15th on the fate of the "iPhone" trademark. Well, check your calendars folks, that's today.
In response to a ZDNet inquiry, Cisco representative John Noh wrote:
Cisco confirms that both sides are still working on an agreement toward trademark usage and interoperability.
Apple has not responded to requests for comment as of this writing.
The story so far
The dispute started when Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the Apple iPhone on January 9th. The next day, Cisco filed a lawsuit charging Apple with trademark infringement. Some experts questioned the strength of Cisco's trademark, while an Apple spokesman called the lawsuit "silly". An article in the Wall Street Journal mentioned ZDNet's investigation and photos in a Cisco trademark filing. Cisco, however, took umbrage with the WSJ article and insisted it had taken "all actions necessary" to hold the mark. They even took out a full-page ad in the NY Times to drive home the point.
Related articles
Ed Burnette is a professional developer and author of several articles and books about computing including Hello, Android: Introducing Google's Mobile Development Platform, 2nd Edition. For disclosure of Ed's industry affiliations, click here or to view his full profile click here.
Subscribe to Dev Connection via Email alerts or RSS.
