Top > Webmaster > 2007 > March > 2007-03-06

iPhone Battle Settled

The new product from Apple, the iPod cellular phone iPhone, has been the center of attention not only for purely technological reasons. The much anticipated introduction and launch of the product has also been in the center of a legal battle between Apple and another giant technology company, Cisco Systems. The legal battle was launched over a month ago, in January, over the trademark and copyrights of the name iPhone.

Cisco was the first to sue the name, which was given in 2000 to its wireless voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) product. To allow Apple to use the name, it demanded it also share the service with its own product. Apple on its end insisted that since the services are distinct, the use of the same name breaches no trademark laws. The agreement reached last week has the companies both keep the name and also work together in the future on security and communication projects. No other details or figures were released in the statement.

The two companies did discuss the trademark issue before the Apple product was launched, but the talks ended with no agreement. The announcement by Apple CEO at the Apple fair on January 9 led to a lawsuit filed the following day in federal court in San Francisco. Cisco claimed Apple`s use of the name was a ?willful and malicious? violation of a trademark. An agreement to allow for future interoperability opportunities have pleased both sides and led to dropping the legal case.