Cisco: we did what's necessary for iPhone trademark
updated 03:35 pm EST, Tue January 16, 2007
Cisco Rebutts on iPhone
Cisco rejects the notion that the company may have lost control of the iPhone trademark, the company's general counsel John Earnhardt said today in his official blog. The executive said he has followed recent news in the blogging community and flatly dismisses allegations that the company had let its rights to the iPhone name slip, stating bluntly that Cisco had "met all elements" needed to hold on to the name Apple is now sharing with its cellphone.
"We've been pretty direct about the fact that we've been shipping the iPhone since last spring," Earnhardt said.
The claim directly contradicted new evidence that surfaced over the weekend, which suggested that Cisco hastily applied the iPhone name to a sticker in a single photo while the associated, real-world product carried only its Linksys branding. ZDNet columnist Ed Burnette, who first uncovered the glaring flaw in Cisco's claims, has also reiterated his position with new legal evidence, pointing to a now-defunct iPhone support page which showed that Cisco had let the iPhone name go unused on its website since the buyout of original trademark holder InfoGear in 2000.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2007
Correction from Cisco
Just so we are clear, I (John Earnhardt) am not the General Counsel of Cisco. Mark Chandler is our SVP and General Counsel and wrote the initial Cisco blog entry on the issue of the infringement of our iPhone trademark. You can read that entry here: http://blogs.cisco.com/news/2007/01/update_on_ciscos_iphone_tradem_1.html
Our corporate blog "News@Cisco Notes" can be reached here: http://blogs.cisco.com
I reside in our Public Relations department. Apologies for any confusion.