Two things even laymen know about trademarks: You’ve got to use them and you’ve got to protect them.
Or you’re going to lose them.
It’s appearing more and more likely that Cisco simply dropped the ball on these points, at least according to those digging through the public records, such as Tom Keating of TMC Labs.
Nutshell version: Cisco had six years to do something with the iPhone trademark and did exactly squat. A last-minute attempt to attach the name to existing Linskys products certainly looks lame to the untrained eye – including a photo filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office featuring an iPhone sticker affixed to an otherwise iPhone-free Linskys box.
Apple abhors a vacuum. Say hello to the Apple iPhone.
Armies of lawyers will decide this one, of course, and Cisco wouldn’t be suing if its legal army wasn’t confident. Still, John Chambers might be thinking a “surge” is in order right about now.
