Cisco is now suing Apple for infringing on its “iPhone” trademark.That’s right Apple is being sued by Cisco on the same day they released the iPhone. There was much speculation on the Net that the phone would not be called iPhone for that reason. Others believed that it would be called “MobileMe” because that term is trademarked by Apple.

But after 2 years (including up to the time of announcement) of trying to wrestle the iPhone trademark from Cisco, Apple decided to go ahead and use it anyway. The iPhone term fits in really nicely with Apple’s iMac, iTunes, and iPod. Maybe Apple decided to take a legal gamble and hope for the best.

That wasn’t a smart move. Cisco filed a 24 page trademark infringement lawsuit against Apple. Cisco’s enior vice president and general counsel , Mark Chandler stated: “Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco’s iPhone name. There is no doubt that Apple’s new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission.”

Another attorney stated, “It looks like Cisco and Apple were negotiating for quite a while, and at the last minute Apple pulled away and went on with Steve Jobs’ presentation”.

Apple contends that even though the name is the same the two products are so different that they couldn’t be confused with each other. Both iPhones though are mobile phones. If Apple does lose they may be forced to rename the iPhone.

[via ComputerWorld]