Thursday, January 11, 2007
Apple and the Trademark Debacle
Why on earth would Apple decide to use a name trademarked by another company since 2000? Cisco Systems owns the trademark and appear none too happy about Apple's use of the trademark. They chose to change the name of the iTV to Apple TV--that name is owned by Independent Television. So why would they decide to go toe to toe with Cisco after TWO years of negotiation to use the name?
Cisco has filed in court to prevent Apple from going to market with iPhone. While the case might not be clear cut in favour of Cisco, it just seems like this will end up being a collosal waste of money and time.
I am a strong advocate of Apple and Apple's products. Still, this just doesn't seem like a decent way of doing business. If Apple found another company using it's trademarks, they would be an extremely aggressive litigator. In fact Apple did just this when e-power came out with a copycat design of the iMac.
So come on Apple! Do the right thing. Re-brand now before the unit begins to ship.
