Cisco might have lost iPhone trademark in '06

by Paul Miller posted Jan 13th 2007 at 1:07PM

Apparently Cisco has more "iPhone" trouble in store for it than just that prior art dispute we mentioned yesterday. In order to keep a trademark alive, you have to file a "Declaration of Use" with the US Patent and Trademark office every six years or forfeit the trademark. On 11/16/2005 Cisco missed that deadline, but was granted a six month grace period, which it just barely squeezed through. Unfortunately for Cisco, a "Declaration of Use" requires demonstration of active use, under penalty of perjury. Cisco merely slapped an iPhone sticker onto an existing VoIP handset it was producing (shown above), but at the time hadn't put an actual iPhone product on shelves for a good long while. This jeopardizes the legitimacy of the trademark, and with Ocean Telecom Services LLC -- which is thought by most to be a front company for Apple -- next in line for the name, it's looking like anyone's game at this point. But for the sake of our own sanity, can we wrap this one up soon, guys? We were kind of hoping to spend the day resting up from CES and playing that new Gears of War map pack instead of reporting such minute developments. Oh well, what are you gonna do?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Handsets, Apple

Tags: apple, cisco, iphone, lawsuit, trademark

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Cole @ Jan 13th 2007 4:00PM

talk about putting lipstick on a pig...

Neutral

brad @ Jan 13th 2007 4:21PM

This information indicates that Cisco did not actively offer a product named "iPhone" between 1999 and December 2006. But they knew Apple was interested in the name because Apple had approached them and negotiations were ongoing.

Neutral

Patrick Guevara @ Jan 14th 2007 12:44PM

Not necessarily. Even if Apple could "cancel" Cisco's USPTO trademark registration for IPHONE, it still has to prove that Cisco abandoned their common law trademark rights in the mark. It is basic to US trademark law, that first use of a trademark, not registration, establishes exclusive rights to the mark. To prove abandonment, Apple will have to show Cisco took actions to abandon the mark AND it intended to abandon its rights. See http://www.trademark-blawg.com/2007/01/isuit-25.html

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