Cisco Sues Apple Over iPhone

Cisco announced today it has filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc. in the US District Court for the Northern District of California for allegedly infringing on its iPhone trademark. The iPhone cell phone/iPod/Internet browser was introduced with much fanfare at the 2007 International Consumer Electronic Show this week in Las Vegas.

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. Infogear's original filing for the trademark dates to March 20, 1996.

"Linksys, a division of Cisco, has been shipping a new line of iPhone products since early last year," Cisco said in a statement. "On Dec. 18, Linksys expanded the iPhone family with additional products."

Mark Chandler, senior vice president and general counsel, Cisco, said, "Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name. There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission."

"Today's iPhone is not tomorrow's iPhone. The 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," Chandler said.

With its lawsuit, Cisco is seeking injunctive relief to prevent Apple from copying Cisco's iPhone trademark.

Apple is scheduled to announced its quarterly financial results on Jan. 17.

For more information, visit www.linksys.com/iphone