Two Companies Agree to Share iPhone Name

Apple Inc. and Cisco Systems had come up with an agreement to temporarily suspend the court battle which started when the latter had filed a class suit against Apple for an alleged trademark infringement.

The two companies had decided to share the “iPhone” name in exchange for “exploring interoperability” between its consumer products, target-market, and security service features.

In January 2007, Cisco Systems had filed a class suit against Apple Inc. for an alleged trademark infringement which had started when the latter used the “iPhone” to name its product.

According to the officials of Cisco, they have made talks with Apple for five years regarding the name iPhone and expressed their plans to share this, but this had ended without any agreement whatsoever.

Cisco has owned the trademark for many years before Apple had released a product which is an Internet-enabled multi-media smartphone that was called iPhone.

Officials of the Apple argue that the other company’s ownership of the said trademark is weak since it had failed to continuously use this in spite of its long existence, further arguing that Cisco has use this trademark from cordless phones which are way too different from the company’s product which is a smartphone.

This is not the first controversy for Apple iPhone. According to LG Electronics officials, the smartphone’s design was copied from LG Prada as soon as it was introduced during the iF Design Award and has won numerous prizes and recognitions.

In spite of various controversies, court battle, and accusations, Apple iPhone has been awarded as Time magazine’s Invention of the Year in 2007.

The company is planning to further expand their market by targeting consumers from Asia and Europe, with a projected goal of selling 10 million iPhones before the end of the year. It has also released its new version which features 3D technology and supports 3G data speed and GPS technology.