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Yeah, and you could imagine a settlement if there was a version of Microsoft Zen instead of Zune ?
In fact, remember Lindows ? They had to change name to Linspire because Lindows "sounded" to close to Windows, a trademark of Microsoft.
It is not some silly patent they are moaning about, it is a trademark. There are massive differences. I will point them out.
Trademarks are worldwide identifiers of a product. They stop others copying the name or trading under it.
Patents are only valid in the country they are granted under, and they are only to show that the holder was the first person to apply for it, and that person should have sole rights for a specified amount of time.
In fact, why am I even trying to explain this to you, go look for it http://www.google.com
Edited 2007-01-14 08:37
- well, I that Cisco iPhone is actually completely different device. They hardly overlap with Apple. Plus they do not have the trademark registered worldwide AFAIK, so there is a settlement waiting to happen sooner or later.
- the Lindows case got settled and Mr. Robertson received 20 million from MS for changing the name. Otherwise MS was in danger of losing the trademark "Windows" at court altogether as a generic term. But that's a completely different story.
Edit - not quite sure how much - this claims 15 million ( http://contracts.onecle.com/lindows/microsoft.settle.2004.07.16.sht... ), this one 1.1 billion ( http://news.com.com/2100-1046-5078074.html )
Edited 2007-01-14 10:24
Actually, Apple copied the "Nano" terminology from Creative, but nothing ever happened, presumably because it was a brand but NOT a trademark (or maybe because Creative thought the confusion might be good for their business, so they didn't bother doing anything).
In any case, in recent articles it has been revealed that Cisco is trying to protect their brand, but may not actually hold a *trademark* on the name "iPhone".
Edited 2007-01-14 10:28





Member since:
2007-01-13
The whole iphone trademark beat up is just to generate a lot of free publicity for Apple and Cisco. The case will be settled amicably in a few months.