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Cisco Licenses 'iOS' Name to Apple

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In a blog post, Cisco Senior Manager for Public Relations Kristin Carvell reports that Cisco has licensed the "iOS" name to Apple for use in describing the operating system formerly known as "iPhone OS" that runs the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Cisco owns a trademark on the "IOS" name for its software running on the vast majority of its network infrastructure equipment.
Cisco has agreed to license the iOS trademark to Apple for use as the name of Apple's operating system for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The license is for use of the trademark only and not for any technology.
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When Apple first announced the iPhone in January 2007, it too was using a name trademarked by Cisco for its line of Web-enabled telephones. Apple had not worked out an agreement to use the name prior to its announcement, however, and Cisco quickly filed suit in an attempt to stop Apple from using the name. But just over a month after the suit was filed, the two parties were able to come to an agreement that would allow both companies to use the iPhone name.

Article Link: Cisco Licenses 'iOS' Name to Apple
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/07/cisco-licenses-ios-name-to-apple/
"reports that Apple has licensed the "iOS" name to Apple for use"

Is that a typo?
 
just goes to show that :apple: isnt opposed to paying licensing fees to someone for use of a name or patent
 
Glad that's sorted out.

Must suck though as Apple seems to have started the whole "i" prefix and is now paying others who jumped on the bandwagon to use names with that prefix.
 
So I guess in the future if we want to speculate on the name for a new Apple product, or rebranding of an existing one, we simply need to see what other names Cicso owns that starts with an i.
 
Peel said:
So I guess in the future if we want to speculate on the name for a new Apple product, or rebranding of an existing one, we simply need to see what other names Cicso owns that starts with an i.
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We should start a macrumors pot to trademark all the names that are likely Apple names (like what Arn did with macbookair.com) and then license them to Apple. Our terms could be "an advanced preview for every Apple product to come out in the next two years. "
 
ipedro said:
Must suck though as Apple seems to have started the whole "i" prefix and is now paying others who jumped on the bandwagon to use names with that prefix.
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Just to clarify, Cisco was by no means copying Apple's nomenclature with "IOS". IOS has literally been around for decades. I'm having trouble finding a release timeline, but IOS 9.21 was released in 1992 after a major rewrite (they're currently at IOS 15.0), and likely existed long before that.

(Hah, why does this always happen... I'm a Firefox extension developer and a Cisco engineer, and it seems fate is conspiring against me to make it harder to search for stuff because terms keep getting co-opted by more popular/visible technologies. First Chrome (the UI engine for Firefox), and now IOS...)
 
ipedro said:
Glad that's sorted out.

Must suck though as Apple seems to have started the whole "i" prefix and is now paying others who jumped on the bandwagon to use names with that prefix.
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Cisco IOS has been around much longer than any Apple product with the i prefix.
 
DARKJ3DI said:
good to see that Apple is asking Cisco for permission this time instead of barging in there like last time.
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IIRC Apple had asked for Cisco's permission in the case of the iPhone, and had a tentative agreement in place, it just wasn't finalized in time for the iPhone launch. Cisco's suit was more of a legal requirement on their part (in case Apple decided not to go forward with licensing the name) than an outright attempt to keep Apple from ever using it.
 
Was wondering how this would play out :) Glad to see Apple took care of things ahead of time, unlike last time around.

And there's more:
Cisco IOS wasn't the only trademark Apple licensed Monday. It also bought the name FaceTime -- used for Apple's new video chat application -- from a social networking security software company. FaceTime, the security company, will change its name over the next few months, completely transferring the name to Apple.
-- http://www.pcworld.com/article/198203/with_ios_apple_gets_the_ok_to_borrow_a_cisco_name.html
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Even Apple knows it can't fight every major corporation in court. Now a street fight...all bet's are off. Congratulations to both sides for not clogging up the legal system. Now if only Apple could make nice Nokia, HTC, Kodak and 11 million patent trolls. Someday.
 
Here I thought "iOS" was actually just a branch of OSX so why not just call it OSX mobile or something to that effect? I'm afraid it may have something to do with long term plans to make iOS Apple's primary priority. In many respects, I think it already is. Steve clearly seems far more interested in it than traditional Macs these days. To me, my iPod Touch is a fancy remote control for my whole house system with internet access and music and movie playback. It's cool, but I probably spend 1000x more time on my three OSX machines than using the iPod Touch. I just don't want to see OSX get ignored while Windows gets top priority by Microsoft to pass/exceed OSX. I don't understand why Apple cannot manage both with all their monetary resources. Jobs has made it clear they prioritize one or the other for a given year and with over 40+ Billion in petty cash, that just shouldn't be an issue, IMO.
 
MagnusVonMagnum said:
Here I thought "iOS" was actually just a branch of OSX so why not just call it OSX mobile or something to that effect? I'm afraid it may have something to do with long term plans to make iOS Apple's primary priority. In many respects, I think it already is. Steve clearly seems far more interested in it than traditional Macs these days. To me, my iPod Touch is a fancy remote control for my whole house system with internet access and music and movie playback. It's cool, but I probably spend 1000x more time on my three OSX machines than using the iPod Touch. I just don't want to see OSX get ignored while Windows gets top priority by Microsoft to pass/exceed OSX. I don't understand why Apple cannot manage both with all their monetary resources. Jobs has made it clear they prioritize one or the other for a given year and with over 40+ Billion in petty cash, that just shouldn't be an issue, IMO.
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Are you serious? 10.6 came out on August 29... not even a year ago. And you think OSX is being ignored? Macs continue to be updated. There is no reason to have a keynote be about the "upgraded" Mac Pro. When they totally change a product, they love keynoting it. See last October's iMac.
 
IOS used to be good and wholesome. Now it is slutty and loose.

CCIE 24825 -
 
trainwrecka said:
Are you serious? 10.6 came out on August 29... not even a year ago. And you think OSX is being ignored? Macs continue to be updated. There is no reason to have a keynote be about the "upgraded" Mac Pro. When they totally change a product, they love keynoting it. See last October's iMac.
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Don't blame me. Steve Jobs himself said this year the focus from Apple would be mostly on 'iOS' updates and big hardware changes and maybe next year would be a Mac year. Most of us also know that Leopard was delayed due to the original iPhone (some say years even since it was clearly in development during that LONG Tiger period). My point is that Apple has the resources such that this should never be a problem, but if you want to wax poetic about how ludicrous my statement is, be my guest. I'm simply making a comment on the information available at hand.

The fact that there was not one thing "Mac" mentioned PERIOD during the WWDC just reiterates what Steve already said that this is the year of the iPhone 4.0 OS and everything else will fall by the wayside with minor updates at best. So don't expect some new gaming Mac hardware to come out or a complete redesign of the Mac Pro. Everything is evolutionary this year in those regards (e.g. the new Macbooks are just new processors stuffed into the same chassis; that doesn't take too much design work to implement). Some of us are also afraid that "Mac" will one day = iOS not OSX, so-to-speak because Steve is a man obsessed with his visions of thin and small and not what some people necessarily want (e.g. some of us Mac users couldn't care less about the iPhone and want to hear about new Mac developments and Apple's response has been there are NONE worth talking about at the WWDC keynote). Frankly, I'd like to see two separate keynotes if they're going that route, one for iOS junk and one for Mac computers. What's new for development this year for Snow Leopard or its successor? Nothing apparently if you listen to the keynote. That's disappointing to some of us. If you like it the way it is, that's your right.
 
I acknowledge the previous delays caused by the initial launch of the iphone, but i think that this is normal stuff. As geeks, we get excited about new products and updates, but at this point the mac is a mature platform. Apple recently overhauled the operating system to make it leaner, meaner, and more portable -- all fruits of the iphone project. At this point, when you have a winning operating system and winning case designs, rushing out updates is foolhardy. You have to have something compelling and new to offer users. Not rushing out new features does not equate to abandoning users, it just means that Apple realizes that the whole "network is the computer" mantra is finally coming true.

On the other hand, the iphone is a platform that is just reaching its potential. I equate the current iphone to the Mac Plus -- way cooler than the alternative, but just starting mature.
 
MagnusVonMagnum said:
Jobs has made it clear they prioritize one or the other for a given year and with over 40+ Billion in petty cash, that just shouldn't be an issue, IMO.
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Cash is not the resource Jobs is talking about. It’s the people. If you listen to the end of the WWDC keynote, it is very noticeable that several of the former/current “Mac centric" teams worked on iPhone 4.

During the keynote, Jobs specifically thanked Scott Forstall (previously responsible for OS X up to 10.5, now exclusively iOS), Bob Mansfield (officially runs Mac hardware engineering, but Jobs noted his team’s work on the A4) and Randy Ubillos (runs video apps which up until now have been Mac only).

That’s very telling. These teams are busy with iDevices at the moment, and while I’m sure there are things happening on the Mac side they’re not top priority.

Jobs turned the Mac division over to Tim Cook in 2005/2006, and hasn’t really looked back. That doesn’t mean there is not great stuff coming. It’s just the mature part of Apple now.

It’s not quite as bad as the Mac vs. Apple II separation during the 80’s, but there’s a priority list for sure.

If you were hired as a developer or engineer at Apple tomorrow, which team would you want to work for? :D
 
Glad Apple did this the correct way. I'm a bit disappointed that they couldn't think of something a bit more original. I'm a network engineer and as others have said, IOS has been around for years. I could see using a trademark for something that's owned by another company that's not being used or is rarely used, but everyone that does anything with Cisco equipment bigger than a Linksys device knows the IOS. This is of course beside the point as Apple did the right thing and Cisco obviously had no issue with it so I'll just keep quiet now. :D:D
 
mingoglia said:
Glad Apple did this the correct way. I'm a bit disappointed that they couldn't think of something a bit more original. I'm a network engineer and as others have said, IOS has been around for years. I could see using a trademark for something that's owned by another company that's not being used or is rarely used, but everyone that does anything with Cisco equipment bigger than a Linksys device knows the IOS. This is of course beside the point as Apple did the right thing and Cisco obviously had no issue with it so I'll just keep quiet now. :D:D
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Yeah I see diplomacy works for Apple but it sure not working for BP. :D
 
You know you've been using Unix too long when you immediately think IOS != iOS. :)
 
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