There is large amount of controversy surrounding the iPhone trademark infringement in the US; and now there is a new suit against Apple being filed in Canada. Apple will now not only be fighting Cisco for rights to the iPhone name, but also Comwave Telecom- who has been using iPhone for years. They have filed an application with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office in hopes of getting compensation for Apple. Comwave Telecom didn’t stop with going after Apple, and have apparently sent a “warning” letter to Cisco in regards to trademark violation.
Comwave has been using “iPhone” since 2004, and applied for a trademark in 2005. Experts say that the trademark is awarded based in the first company using the brand name in Canada or in applying to register the name.
Apple applied for “iPhone” in 2004, which was prior to Comwave’s application but may have been after Comwave was actively using the name. Cisco had filed an application (through Infogear) to obtain a trademark for the iPhone name in 1998, but abandoned those efforts in the middle of 2003.
“We recently became aware of Comwave and we’re investigating the issue thoroughly,” said Cisco spokesman John Noh.
“Our legal department has put Cisco on notice,” said Yuval Barzakay, president of Toronto-based Comwave.
“We will see how they react and then gauge our next action.”
Technorati Tags: iPhone
February 19th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
The Comwave iPhone service is very poor, they don’t deserve the trademark!
I’ve had it for a couple years and am not satisfied. My next iPhone will be Apples.