Apple and Cisco talk

Apple, the company busily threatening little technology companies around the world who dare to use the word pod as part of their products' names, is back at the negotiating table with Cisco over its use of the iPhone name, a trademark held by Cisco for years.

Apple believes that iPhone is a generic name and therefore Cisco should not have exclusive claim to it and that there would not be any confusion between its new combination mobile phone and iPod and Cisco's VoIP phone. Cisco, which owns rights to the name in the US, begs to differ.

"Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco’s iPhone name," Mark Chandler, senior vice president and general counsel, Cisco, said earlier this month. "There is no doubt that Apple’s new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission."

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