News

iPhone: Cisco gets EU setback in name battle

by Staff Writer | posted on 13 January 2007

According to a report in The Register Cisco could be on the brink of losing the rights to the iPhone trade mark in Europe. The story quotes Out-Law as saying that, according to trade mark experts, Apple could end up with European rights to iPhone, in contrast to reports around the world suggesting that Cisco's rights were absolute.

Cisco this week sued Apple over its use of the iPhone name for its new mobile telephone. Cisco holds US and European trade marks in the name and negotiations over a licensing deal between the companies had broken down, Cisco said.

Trade mark specialist Lee Curtis of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, has found the legal loophole, which could strip Cisco of its European rights. He told technology law podcast OUT-LAW Radio that in Europe a person can lodge a revocation application against a trade mark registration if the trade mark has not been used for the past five years.