Cisco sues Apple over use of iPhone trademark

Cisco Systems has filed a lawsuit against Apple accusing the company of infringing its iPhone trademark, the networking company said Wednesday.

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The suit also accuses the iPod maker used 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 (click for PDF).

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Cisco is seeking an injunction that will prevent Apple from using the name as well as damages from the company, the lawsuit said.

Fresh off one of the biggest launches in its history, a product Apple CEO Steve Jobs called one of the most exciting products he's ever worked on, the company dug in its heels. "We think Cisco's trademark suit is silly... we believe (their) trademark registration is tenuous at best," said Natalie Kerris, an Apple spokeswoman.

"There are already several companies using the iPhone name for VoIP (voice over IP) products," Kerris said. "We're the first company ever to use iPhone for a cell phone. If Cisco wants to challenge us on it, we're confident we'll prevail."

Cisco obtained the iPhone trademark in 2000 when it acquired Infogear, a small Redwood City, Calif., start-up that developed consumer devices that allowed people to easily access the Internet without a PC. Infogear had actually registered the iPhone trademark in March 1996. Cisco's home networking division, Linksys, has been using the iPhone trademark on a new family of voice over IP phones since early last year, Cisco said. And last month, Linksys expanded the iPhone family with additional products.

A British company called Orate Telecommunications Services also offers a VoIP phone called an iPhone, and closer to home, a San Jose, Calif., company called Teledex offers an iPhone for hotel rooms.

For more than a year, Apple watchers have speculated about a new phone developed by Apple that would combine smart phone cellular technology with the full functionality of an iPod music and video player. Fans and bloggers had been referring to an Apple-designed cell phone as the iPhone for some time, and Apple's repeated attempts at obtaining the trademark make it clear Apple hoped to use the moniker as well.