{"id":330,"date":"2007-01-11T22:28:25","date_gmt":"2007-01-11T13:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-01-11\/330"},"modified":"2007-01-11T22:28:45","modified_gmt":"2007-01-11T13:28:45","slug":"will-the-real-iphone-please-stand-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-01-11\/330","title":{"rendered":"Will the Real &#8220;iPhone&#8221; Please Stand Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<p>I commented yesterday about the apparently <a\nhref=\"\/blog\/2007-01-11\/329\">great usability<\/a> of Apple's\njust-announced iPhone, and now <span class='nobr'>I have<\/span> to ask &#8220;Apple, are you\n<i>idiots<\/i>?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>Someone else has had tha &#8220;iPhone&#8221; name trademarked for six years:<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href=\"http:\/\/www.linksys.com\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/iPhone-Linksys.gif\" width=\"573\" height=\"347\"\nborder=\"0\"\nid=\"iiPhone_Linksys\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n<p>Of course, that someone <a\nhref=\"http:\/\/news.search.yahoo.com\/news\/search?p=iphone+cisco\">sued\nApple<\/a> over it.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nApple, splitting the most infinitesimal hairs, said that because Apple's\nproduct is for <span class='nobr'>a cellular<\/span> phone and the current &#8220;iPhone&#8221;\nofferings from Cisco are <a\nhref=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Voip\">VoIP<\/a> (i.e. &#8220;internet\nphones&#8221;), Apple is not in violation because &#8220;<a\nhref=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/infoworld\/20070111\/tc_infoworld\/85054_4\">they're\ndifferent products<\/a>.&#8221;\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nI'm not a lawyer, blah blah blah, but <i>isn't this exactly what trademark\nlaw is designed for?<\/i>\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nQuoting from <a\nhref=\"http:\/\/www.tms.org\/pubs\/journals\/jom\/matters\/matters-9610.html\">this\narticle<\/a>....\n\n<\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\">\nspan.qo2 { font-size:300%; line-height:0; position:relative; bottom:-0.4em }\n<\/style>\n\n<table style='margin-top:15px' align='center' width='90%'><tr valign='baseline'><td><span\nclass='qo2'>&#8220;<\/span><\/td><td style='font-size:105%'><p>\n\n    The touchstone of any trademark infringement case is the likelihood of\n    confusion &mdash; that is, the alleged infringer will be prohibited\n    from using <span class='nobr'>a trademark<\/span> on <span class='nobr'>a competing<\/span> product if that use causes <span class='nobr'>a likelihood<\/span> of\n    confusion in the mind of <span class='nobr'>a relevant<\/span> purchaser.<\/p>\n\n    <p>Courts have set forth a\n    number of factors for determining the likelihood of confusion, such as the\n    closeness of the appearance, sound, and meaning of the conflicting marks;\n    the relatedness of the goods on which the marks are used; the channels of\n    commerce in which the marks are sold; and the sophistication of the\n    relevant purchasers of the goods.<\/p>\n\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n\n\n<p>\n\nFrom what's been made public, <span class='nobr'>I can't<\/span> see how this is anything but outright\nattempted theft by Apple. Considering that Apple's been asking Cisco for\npermission to use the &#8220;iPhone&#8221; trademark for years, Apple's use\nof it without permission would clearly be considered &#8220;willful\ninfringement,&#8221; which opens Apple up to <a\nhref=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Treble_damages\" class='quiet'>treble\ndamages<\/a>.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nApple's one saving grace (besides deep pockets that can be used to buy its\nway out of this mess) may be that Cisco has not aggressively defended its\niPhone trademark in the past, thereby creating an environment in which that\ntrademark can be stripped. <span class='nobr'>I gathered<\/span> this might be Apple's angle because\n<a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/nm\/20070111\/bs_nm\/cisco_iphone_dc_5\">it's\nreported<\/a> that an Apple spokesman said &#8220;There are already several\ncompanies using the name iPhone for voice over IP products.&#8221;\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nStill, it seems so clear cut that Apple is wrong that <span class='nobr'>I have<\/span> to wonder if\nit's all some kind of publicity stunt... <span class='nobr'>a way<\/span> for Apple to rename it\n&#8220;Apple Phone&#8221; with great fanfare, or something.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nI'm sure nothing major will come of this... Apple will go ahead and license\nthe name from Cisco (albeit under slightly better terms for Cisco than had\nthey completed the agreement before making Apple's product public), and\nit'll all be forgotten.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I commented yesterday about the apparently great usability of Apple's just-announced iPhone, and now I have to ask \"Apple, are you idiots?\"<\/p> <p>Someone else has had tha \"iPhone\" name trademarked for six years:<\/p> <p>Of course, that someone sued Apple over it. <\/p><p> Apple, splitting the most infinitesimal hairs, said that because Apple's product is for a cellular phone and the current \"iPhone\" offerings from Cisco are VoIP (i.e. \"internet phones\"), Apple is not in violation because \"they're different products.\" <\/p><p> I'm not a lawyer, blah blah blah, but isn't this exactly what trademark law is designed for? <\/p><p> Quoting from [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}