After the party, the headache. Just a day after the launch of the iPhone, Cisco Systems announced that it had filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Apple,  seeking to prevent the company from infringing upon and deliberately copying and using Ciscos registered iPhone trademark.
Cisco obtained the iPhone trademark in 2000 after completing the acquisition of Infogear, which previously owned the mark and sold iPhone products for several years. Infogears original filing for the trademark dates to March 20, 1996.
Furthermore, Linksys, a division of Cisco, has been shipping a new family of iPhone products since early last year, and on Dec 18, Linksys expanded the iPhone family with additional products. According to Cisco, Apple sought permission to use the name, but when it failed to obtain it, went ahead anyway. “Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Ciscos iPhone name,” says Cisco Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Mark Chandler. “There is no doubt that Apples new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permissionThe potential for convergence of the home phone, cell phone, work phone and PC is limitless, which is why it is so important for us to protect our brand.”
Mobile Marketing understands that Apple intends to fight the lawsuit and push on with its plans for the iPhone launch.
More information on the Cisco iPhone product line here.