[afnog] iPhone Blues

[Barry Greene (bgreene)]

You can go to the source:

http://blogs.cisco.com/news/2007/01/more_answers_on_cisco_iphone_t.html

http://blogs.cisco.com/news/2007/01/update_on_ciscos_iphone_tradem_1.htm
l
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: afnog-bounces at afnog.org 
> [mailto:afnog-bounces at afnog.org] On Behalf Of Bill Woodcock
> Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 2:38 PM
> To: byaruhj at mtn.co.ug
> Cc: afnog at afnog.org
> Subject: Re: [afnog] iPhone Blues
> 
> 
> It's an interesting fight...  
> 
>   - Apple has been trying to license the brand from Cisco for several 
>     years, as well as registering a covert front company in 
> the Caribbean 
>     to pursue it from a different angle.
> 
>   - Apple is pretty flagrantly using the iPhone name, despite 
> refusing to
>     agree to the terms of the licensing agreement which Cisco offered 
>     them.  They started quite a while ago, while they were 
> simultaneously
>     negotiating with Cisco, and trying to do an end-run 
> around Cisco with
>     the front company.
> 
>   - Cisco isn't asking for any money in the licensing agreement, 
>     apparently, although the agreement itself hasn't been 
> made public, to 
>     the best of my knowlege...  They're just saying that they 
> only want to 
>     license the brand for use on products which follow open 
> standards and 
>     will thus be interoperable with Cisco products.  Which 
> sounds good, if 
>     it's true.
> 
>   - Apple has apparently entered into a really vicious 
> exclusive agreement
>     with Cingular/AT&T, the almost-monopoly phone company in 
> the U.S., 
>     which would disable the 802.11 wireless feaure on the phone, and 
>     prohibit users from installing any third-party software 
> on the phones.
> 
>   - Cisco looks like it missed a minor paperwork filing to renew the 
>     trademark a year or so ago, so although they've continued 
> to use the 
>     iPhone name, they may actually no longer have exclusive 
> rights to it 
>     anyway, if it comes to a court fight.
> 
> Now you know one of the reasons why everything's so expensive 
> in the U.S.  
> Lawyers everywhere. 
> 
>                                 -Bill
> 
> 
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