Cisco claims Apple created phony company to sidestep iPhone trademark
http://money.canoe.ca/News/TopPhoto/2007/01/10/3279889-ap.htmlCisco lawsuit against Apple over IPhone naming rights could get ugly
What's a name worth?
To find out, Cisco Systems Inc. and Apple Inc. may spend millions of dollars in a high-stakes legal battle - and the winner could walk away with the rights to the coveted name "IPhone."
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Cisco asked a judge to forbid Apple from using the name "IPhone," a Cisco trademark since 2000.
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Apple went so far as to create a phoney company - called Ocean Telecom Services LLC - to get around Cisco's trademark, Cisco alleges.
In an application to the U.S. Patent and Trade Office in March, Ocean Telecom billed itself as a foreign company doing business in Trinidad and Tobago. The company listed its attorney as James Johnson. His contact information was an e-mail address from Google's free web-based Gmail service.
On Thursday, the Apple spokeswoman said the company would not discuss Ocean Telecom.