News
Apple and Cisco settle iPhone dispute
Stuart O'Brien Feb 22 2007, 11:45am
Apple and Cisco have agreed to share the iPhone trademark, bringing an end to hostilities between the two companies.
In January networking giant Cisco said that it was suing Apple for infringing copyright on the iPhone trademark, which it inherited in 2000 after completing the acquisition of Infogear, which previously owned the mark and had sold iPhone products for several years.
Linksys, a division of Cisco, has been shipping a family of iPhone VoIP products since early last year. Now it seems Apple's and Cisco's products will share the name.
A short joint statement issued yesterday said: "Both companies are free to use the 'iPhone' trademark on their products throughout the world.
Both companies acknowledge the trademark ownership rights that have been granted, and each side will dismiss any pending actions regarding the trademark."
Cisco and Apple says they will also explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications.
Some commentators have speculated that Google, which is a big Google customers and also sits on Apple's board, may have had a hand in helping the companies come to an iPhone compromise.
