Cisco sues Apple over use of iPhone trademark

By Marguerite Reardon and Tom Krazit






update Cisco Systems has filed a lawsuit against Apple accusing the company of infringing its iPhone trademark, the networking company said Wednesday.
The suit also accuses the iPod maker of using a front company to try to acquire rights to the name. Cisco accused Apple in a suit filed in United States District Court for the Northern District of California of willingly infringing its trademark when it announced the new iPhone at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco on Tuesday. Cisco said in the complaint that Apple had attempted to get rights to the iPhone name several times, but after Cisco refused, the company created a front company to try to acquire the rights another way, according to the lawsuit....
http://news.com.com/Cisco+sues+Apple+over+use+of+iPhone+trademark/2100-1047_3-6149285.html

I feel that Cisco has every right to sue Apple for trademark agreement on its iphone. Cisco trademarked the name iphone in 2000 and has every right not to allow Apple to use the name for their new cell phone. What was most disturbing to me was that even though apple could not obtain the rights to use the name they still went ahead and launched their new cell phone called iphone. Having two different phones from different companies with the same name will cause confusion in the consumers mind and could ultimately hurt the Cisco product because when everyone hears iphone now they think of the Apple phone and not of the trademarked Cisco product.
By Lori Berman