Very interesting development on a related front:
The iPhone Launches...From Linksys
FWIW, here's what at least one industry analyst has to say (article
HERE):
Quote:
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In other news, the iPhone was released - but not by Apple. The iPhone is the new VoIP range from Cisco subsidiary Linksys. There are going to be seven models in all and they are aimed at home, Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) and small business users. What's far more interesting than the hardware itself is the name. iPhone has been the name that bloggers and the media have been using for a product that Apple is rumored to be launching sometime soon. Now whether Apple just screwed up and has been bitten by the secrecy that it normally shrouds products in prior to launch or maybe it had no intentions of calling any cell phone they come out with "iPhone" in the first place, one thing is for sure, Linksys's product line just got guaranteed a ton of publicity. If, as many analysts suspect, Apple already has a cell phone rolling out of factories in China called the iPhone, we could see a very interesting trademark battle, and Apple has little evidence to back up an ownership claim on the iPhone trademark.
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So, what says the BBF trademark & IP defense team on this one? Apple has never before been a participant in the phone biz and as noted above, they haven't yet made any official announcements announcing or naming a product - do they have inherent ownership on the lower case letter "i" with regards to any electronic device of any kind?