The long-anticipated release of Apple’s new iPhone may have bowled many of us over, but here’s a googly: Cisco, which already had the iPhone name trademarked, is suing Apple, who had initially approached Cisco for rights to the name about six years ago.
Cisco didn’t play ball, and now the company is asking that Apple “pay Cisco’s legal fees and relinquish all profits eventually made on the iPhone. Cisco also demands Apple destroy all labels, signs, packaging and other promotional material that includes the word iPhone.”
But that’s not even the most interesting thing. Apple’s legal department is apparently as creative as its product development team. Cisco alleges that Apple sought ways to get around the trademark infringement issue, including crating a phantom foreign company, Ocean Telecom Services LLC that was supposed to be doing business in – wait for it – sweet, sweet T&T.
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