Cell Phone News

Apple and Cisco settle over the 'iPhone' trademark dispute

Apple and Cisco on Wednesday settled their dispute over the use of the "iPhone" trademark by announcing an agreement to share the controversial trademark. The accord put to rest a month-long dispute that began after Apple launched the iPhone, marking the computermaker's long-awaited foray into the mobile handset market.

After more than a month of public sparring, the companies recently agreed to several legal extensions, following the Cisco lawsuit over the iPhone trademark. Under the agreement, both companies are free to use the "iPhone" trademark on their products throughout the world, according to the release. Both companies acknowledge the trademark ownership rights that have been granted, and each side will dismiss any pending actions regarding the trademark. In addition, Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications. Both companies, however, said that other terms of the agreement are confidential.

Earlier this year, Cisco said it simply wanted its equipment and devices to work seamlessly with iPhone, while Apple called the lawsuit "silly." Despite a report that suggested that iPhone royalties could cost Apple hundreds of millions of dollars, the Cupertino-based company continued to push the network giant for rights to the iPhone name, claiming that its iPhone device was a cellular phone, while Cisco claimed the trademark based on a VOIP-based product from its consumer wireless Linksys division.

Many have suspected that what Cisco really wanted was a piece of future iPhone profits in the form of interoperability. Last month, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said he expects to sell 10 million iPhones, which will sell for $499 and $599 respectively, in 2008.

Right after filing the trademark infringement suit, Cisco chief executive John Chambers said the company was not necessarily looking for money, but rather interoperability, or the ability for the iPhone to in some way work with a Cisco product. Apple's iPhone will be equipped with Wi-Fi, and Cisco is the world's largest maker of computer-networking equipment.

However, Apple still faces a potential iPhone trademark suit in Canada, where Comwave Telecom Inc. has used the iPhone brand since 2004 to sell Web-based phone service.

Additionally, Apple may face a touch-screen patent lawsuit over its forthcoming iPhone from a UK-based company that develops and markets capacitive sensor chips for touch screen applications.