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infogear registered "iPhone" in 1996
cisco bought infogear in 2000
linksys announced their first iPhone in late 2005 when they teamed up with skype
the first iMac was released in 1998 (thats 2 years after 1996
)
don't believe everything you find on wikipedia. most of the time it tells only half the truce
Edited 2007-01-11 03:36
Does it matter who did what when? Surely the issue is, has Apple actually tried to prohibit others using the expression iXXX on their products since 1998? If not, its going to be very difficult to argue that i-anything is an Apple trademark. Of course, if they have registered and enforced particular instances like 'iBook', 'iTune' those will be different.
"Stop, reverse.
Cisco trademark is 2000, first iMac is 1998 (iMovie is 1999, iPod and iTunes are 2001, iPhoto 2002 -- thanks, Wikipedia) and Cisco's iPhone came out a few months ago, tops, so Apple could easily make a strong case that iThings are their brand."
Actually Infogear introduced the iPhone in 1997 and Cisco bought them out in 2000 acquiring the TM.




Member since:
2006-03-12
the only problem is that ciscos iPhone-brand dates back 2 years before the first iMac
If someone copied the "i-Brand" it's apple
Stop, reverse.
Cisco trademark is 2000, first iMac is 1998 (iMovie is 1999, iPod and iTunes are 2001, iPhoto 2002 -- thanks, Wikipedia) and Cisco's iPhone came out a few months ago, tops, so Apple could easily make a strong case that iThings are their brand.
Still, it doesn't look great for Apple. From Steve Jobs's own mouth, the iPhone had been in development for two and a half years, not seven, and Cisco got their allegedly intelligent phone out the door first.