Cisco Suing Apple For iPhone Trademark Infringement

[The Scotsman]

i stands for ?

Cisco has used the i for internet as it is purely Voip phones that are under the i prefix. apple uses the i for intelligent i think but i am not to sure. somebody help i please.

 

[clevin]

Did you read the whole article?

You miss this?

"….if you go to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (kind of like military intelligence but more evil) and so a search under Trade-Marks for iPhone, you will see three documents, an opposition, a search and an abandonment by Cisco….he US PTO also lists two of note, one by Ocean Telecom Services and the other by Teledex LLC. It is pretty certain that the Ocean application is from Apple, but the Teledex one beat it by a year."

well, i dont understand why u need to go to cadanian gov's website to find these info. and I feel this type of info probably won't help apple in court, i might be wrong tho, just wait and see whats gonna happen in court, or if apple will just pay to settle it.

edit, that article noted that the Teledex's and Ocean application's requests will probably be denied in US coz Cisco already got it.

in a word, all the trademarks u think apple got are not in US

 

[Stella]

The Wii is white and round. So?

Apple have made iProducts since the *late* 1990s. Nice play on words there.


Your example isn't accurate - Apple never had the trademark 'iPhone'. Cisco did.

It would be like Ford making a Taurus and Saturn, two weeks later, releasing a car also called 'Taurus'. Ford sues Saturn.

In this scenario above, you'd expect Ford to. But oh, no, because this involves Apple, you expect Apple to be in the right... because its your favourite company.

Up until yesterday, Apple didn't have a product called iPhone - it was all rumours.

Trademark or not, I want to laugh - it's so satisfying to see this coming.

Apple has made iProducts since the 90s, and the iPod most notably is white, kinda rounded edges, simplistic styling, and rather expensive. Most apple iProducts are white, and have been.

What does cisco do? Linksys iPhones - white, rounded, basically they try to ride on the iTheme that exists hahahaha.

Meanwhile, Apple actually MAKES THE REAL THING (instead of trying to make a poser phone like Cisco/Linksys did). Cisco sees this and sues.

It's as if Ford decided to bring back the recently discontinued Taurus, but Saturn is already MAKING a taurus and sues Ford for trying to steal the name from them, lol.

 

[jrhone]

Cisco has a trademark for an internet VOIP solution...NOT a cellular phone! Apple has a trademark for a CELLULAR PHONE.

Ciscos Trademark definition:
"computer hardware and software for providing integrated telephone communication with computerized global information networks"

Apples Trademark definition:
"handheld and mobile digital electronic devices for the sending and receiving of telephone calls, faxes, electronic mail, and other digital data; MP3 and other digital format audio players; handheld computers, personal digital assistants, electronic organizers, electronic notepads; magnetic data carriers; telephones, mobile phones, computer gaming machines, videophones, cameras; prerecorded computer programs for personal information management, database management software, electronic mail and messaging software, paging software, database synchronization software, computer programs for accessing, browsing and searching online databases, computer software and firmware, namely operating system programs, data synchronization programs, and application development tool programs for personal and handheld computers; electronic handheld units for the wireless receipt and/or transmission of data that enable the user to keep track of or manage personal information; software for the redirection of messages, Internet e-mail, and/or other data to one or more electronic handheld devices from a data store on or associated with a personal computer or a server; and software for the synchronization of data between a remote station or device and a fixed or remote station or device; computer hardware and software for providing integrated telephone communication with computerized global information networks"

The trademark office thought they were 2 completely unrelated items...Apple could turn around and sue Cisco for releasing a cellular device with this name.

 

[Doctor Q]

Cisco has used the i for internet as it is purely Voip phones that are under the i prefix. apple uses the i for intelligent i think but i am not to sure. somebody help i please.

I think "i" was originally intended to stand for Internet but Apple decided intentionally that it wasn't to "stand for" anything at all, and avoided defining it in their ads or product literature, so they could ride it wherever products could take them.

If they had called it something less generic (with more letters than "i") they could have protected it so that other companies couldn't have ridden their coat tails in the first place, and then they wouldn't have had to fight to use a new iSomething name now. But a longer prefix wouldn't have been as catchy.

 

[clevin]

Cisco has a trademark for an internet VOIP solution...NOT a cellular phone! Apple has a trademark for a CELLULAR PHONE.

link, plz

 

[The Scotsman]

evidence gathering

I think "i" was originally intended to stand for Internet but Apple decided intentionally that it wasn't to "stand for" anything at all, and avoided defining it in their ads or product literature, so they could ride it wherever products could take them.

If they had called it something less generic (with more letters than "i") they could have protected it so that other companies couldn't have ridden their coat tails in the first place, and then they wouldn't have had to fight to use a new iSomething name now. But a longer prefix wouldn't have been as catchy.

Ok yes i would jump to that also but what product before the iPod did apple have an i prefix. I have only been into apple since iPod came out and then since last generation of macs so before this time I am a but hazy.

 

[s10]

More free publicity for Apple.. sponsored by Cisco.

 

[clevin]

More free publicity for Apple.. sponsored by Cisco.

i like the idea. haha

 

[bretm]

it lacks punch

I'm going to vote for iFi. Or PodPhone. Time to get rid of the i. Replace all the i's with Apple. ApplePod. AppleMac (or better yet, just Mac). Even better, just Pod.Or how about we increment them? iphone 2007. Then iphone 2007 sp 2, 3, etc. Or by letters... the jphone. The jpod. The jmac. Kphone, kpod, kmac. Kphoto. Ktunes. Yeah, I like it...

 

[FreeState]

well, i dont understand why u need to go to cadanian gov's website to find these info. and I feel this type of info probably won't help apple in court, i might be wrong tho, just wait and see whats gonna happen in court, or if apple will just pay to settle it.

edit, that article noted that the Teledex's and Ocean application's requests will probably be denied in US coz Cisco already got it.

in a word, all the trademarks u think apple got are not in US

The canadian trademark is the proof that the US application using the Ocean moniker is Apple

Either way it will be interesting to see what happens. I for one really don't care what they call it, I just want one!

 

[dontmatter]

What the hell was apple thinking? You take something somebody else already owns, has documentation for, and then go and make a big public announcment that you have it, and...? You don't just decide, f it, I'm going to break the law in front of the police, because I want to.

I seriously thought apple had an agreement worked out, or else they wouldn't have done this. Maybe they thought they did, and something went wrong?

 

[clevin]

I'm going to vote for iFi. Or PodPhone. Time to get rid of the i. Replace all the i's with Apple. ApplePod. AppleMac (or better yet, just Mac). Even better, just Pod.Or how about we increment them? iphone 2007. Then iphone 2007 sp 2, 3, etc. Or by letters... the jphone. The jpod. The jmac. Kphone, kpod, kmac. Kphoto. Ktunes. Yeah, I like it...

i second "PodPhone"

 

[Barabas]

I'm going to vote for iFi. Or PodPhone. Time to get rid of the i. Replace all the i's with Apple. ApplePod. ... it...

How about the MacPod?

 

[blybug]

I think "i" was originally intended to stand for Internet but Apple decided intentionally that it wasn't to "stand for" anything at all, and avoided defining it in their ads or product literature, so they could ride it wherever products could take them.

The first "i" product was the iMac, the original bondi-blue, all-in-one iMac, introduced by Steve Jobs in a live streaming keynote in May '98, available in August. Among other oddities, the iMac had a translucent blue plastic case, did not have a floppy drive, and did away with legacy Apple ports such as ADB and SCSI for the up-and-coming USB. Mac discussion boards at that time (I think I used to hang out at maccentral.com back then) were full of nay-sayers predicting this was the final nail in Apple's coffin (mostly due to lack of floppy drive!! really!!)

And I can well recall, while watching this live stream, Steve specifically stating that the "i" stands for "internet". Eventually the "i" stopped meaning much of anything other than the latest Apple-branded product.

(still trying to track down a transcript of that show...why doesn't Apple put all the old Stevenotes on iTunes...how fun would that be!?)

 

[clevin]

The canadian trademark is the proof that the US application using the Ocean moniker is Apple
Either way it will be interesting to see what happens. I for one really don't care what they call it, I just want one!

oh yeah, it should be easy to change a name, after all, the product isn't in market yet,

 

[DeepIn2U]

Trademark or not, I want to laugh - it's so satisfying to see this coming.

Apple has made iProducts since the 90s, and the iPod most notably is white, kinda rounded edges, simplistic styling, and rather expensive. Most apple iProducts are white, and have been.

What does cisco do? Linksys iPhones - white, rounded, basically they try to ride on the iTheme that exists hahahaha.

Meanwhile, Apple actually MAKES THE REAL THING (instead of trying to make a poser phone like Cisco/Linksys did). Cisco sees this and sues.

It's as if Ford decided to bring back the recently discontinued Taurus, but Saturn is already MAKING a taurus and sues Ford for trying to steal the name from them, lol.

Here is some support to that linksys claim

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12/18/linksys_launches_iphone/

 

[The Scotsman]

Sorry Doctor Q

Yes you are right sorry. The i in iPod does stand for internet because it was a name apple patented for internet kiosks i being internet and pod being place human stands to use internet. They never used the name and put it into the music device now known as iPod. My argument was that the iPod came out way before anyway of getting music effectively from the internet and certainly not to use in the iPod anyway. Therefore thought it stood for intelliegent but I guess it is much more generic these days.

 

[wildmannz]

Can they Sue?

I'm sure Cisco tied down the name first - but can they REALLY sue yet?
I mean - the Apple product hasn't officially been launched, let alone sold.

 

[Xavier]

Just call it the (Apple Logo) iPhone


done there, finished


sosumi

 

[numediaman]

Everyone assumes that Apple was ready to go to market and was caught by surprise by Cisco.

I disagree.

It seems, of late, that Apple is the one not ready to go to market. Many months ago Apple announces the iTV, but says it is months away from being able to deliver -- then changes the name to AppleTV.

Now Jobs announces the iPhone, but states that it won't really hit the market until summer.

Sounds to me like Apple jumped the gun because they had nothing else to introduce in January.

Frankly, I'm not a big fan of the iPhone. It looks great, and is certainly a better phone than the other high-end phones out there -- but does it really do anything new? Can't you send e-mail while on the phone now? (I do it all day long.) Can't you surf the net while on the phone, or listen to tunes? (I'll admit that multitouch is great, but it could have been introduced in the next gen of iPods just as easily.)

In the end, Cisco and Apple will settle and Apple will get their one percent of the phone market. Yippee.

 

[AppleIntelRock]

Hopefully Apple wont spend too much money on this name. Personally, I think "?Phone" would make an even better name.

 

[cal6n]

I'm actually quite surprised that Apple even considered iPhone, given that cisco have it sewn up. I thought iPDA (rhyming with "encyclopaedia") or iPad would be much better.

Oh, and BTW, it's "alt"+"shift"+"k" to get "". Best learn how to type it!

*edit* AArrgg! doesn't work. Use Lucida Grande!

*2nd edit* worked that time, how bizzarre

 

[matthewroth]

close this here and now

just to put this bluntly, this will be over in days!

the Iphone from cisco is patented as a VIOP phone doing blah blah blah... apple on the other hand have said it is a mobile phone doing everything, one words differance will make this a completly different product

also has any one else noticed that alot of mentions on the iphones own page has been changed to have an apple logo before the term Iphone (Peter S and s Jobs{PBUH} both looking woried and saying change it faster before they notice!)

 

[Stella]

Sounds to me like Apple jumped the gun because they had nothing else to introduce in January.

No, because they couldn't keep it a secret for much longer - there's an article on thinksecret, appleinsider, or macrumors or somewhere.

Apple have to get FCC approval and for that all devices become public knowledge. If Apple didn't announce it, FCC would have made it public knowledge.