Cisco delays Apple iPhone lawsuit, again

For those of you eagerly awaiting the result of the the iPhone trademark dispute today... well, you'll have to keep waiting. Cisco extended the time for Apple's response to its iPhone lawsuit until Wednesday, February 21st. In a statement released this morning, Cisco states that they are "fully committed to using the extra time to reach a mutually beneficial resolution." With these favored children of Silicon Valley separated by just a few miles drive, you'd think they could have hammered out an agreement over a few beers by now. But with the discussion dealing not only with trademark rights, but also with "interoperability," the settlement is likely to include more than just a one-off cash settlement.

[DM @ Feb 16th 2007 1:35PM]

People like you need to die. Seriously.

[Michal G @ Feb 16th 2007 4:15PM]

lol @ sarcasm and wow guy that took it seriously

[blackout @ Feb 16th 2007 6:25AM]

hasn't anyone noticed that the (apple's)iPhone doesn't have skype, but linksys' one does? if they made the apple iPhone skype enabled, then it would kill two birds with one stone for them.

[Norbet Heintz @ Feb 19th 2007 2:22PM]

Apple doesn't need anything from Cisco other than the trademark? How about the fact that Cisco owns and operates half of the network infrastructure for Cingular, which the Iphone is debuting with. If Apple responds negatively to any settlement negotiations, look for Cisco to respond through their network coverage for these Iphone devices.

[Josh @ Feb 16th 2007 6:57AM]

Shouldn't the pic be the other way round? It's not apple taking on cisco, as the pic implies, but cisco taking on apple. I know it's a pedantic point, but hey.

[peteer01 @ Feb 19th 2007 8:28AM]

"Shouldn't the pic be the other way round? It's not apple taking on cisco, as the pic implies, but cisco taking on apple. I know it's a pedantic point, but hey."

Apple can only pull off dragon punches when they're on the right hand side of the screen.

[ohcyt @ Feb 16th 2007 6:59AM]

VOIP/Skype in the iPhone sounds great, but they don't need Cisco for that. In fact, they don't need anything from Cisco (apart from that trademark thingy), so it's hard to see how it could be beneficial for Apple to be interoperable with Cisco's devices...

[Karl Viklund @ Feb 16th 2007 8:05AM]

"fully committed to using the extra time to reach a mutually beneficial resolution."

Seems to me that Cisco knows that they don't really own the trademark but won't say it. The question is, who owns it. From what I have read there are several companies claming the rights to the iPhone name. And if Apple lose, they could just change the name to "Apple Phone" and it would not hurt them anything. So Apple is taking this fight because they know that they got nothing to lose.

[sentient.exe @ Feb 16th 2007 8:16AM]

My farts smell like sulfur right now. Might be the beer.

[Marcus @ Feb 16th 2007 9:26AM]

I don't understand what kind of "interoperability" Cisco is hoping to get from Apple's iPhone. They're two different beasts entirely.

[JT @ Feb 16th 2007 9:31AM]

This is going to hilarious, watching the no-brain iphone lovers wait...

[ssuk @ Feb 16th 2007 12:16PM]

They drag this out any longer and even the fanboys will stop caring, but hey, it gets attention (and negative press) for both sides so why rush? I'll just be laughing at those who jump at apple's iPhone and get myself a phone which is remarkably similar but a quater of the iPhones price tag. Cheers.

[SornyPanafonic @ Feb 16th 2007 8:29PM]

i think hes mocking real apple fanboys, unless youre one and are angered by his comment. i really dont care about this but it does seem liks cisco does have the rights to it and should do as it pleases.

[dfgdfgdfgwrttwrdghdfgdf @ Feb 20th 2007 7:31PM]

@DM: People like you need to die. Seriously.

[DM @ Feb 17th 2007 2:03AM]

Well, his name is appleFanboy . I guess there is a good chance that he is a fanboy. And yes, Cisco does have the rights.

[mike @ Feb 17th 2007 4:04PM]

And yes, Cisco does have the rights.

--

they did but they didn't use them so after 5 years, they're up for grabs.

plus these phones are not in the same product category.

[Conrad @ Feb 17th 2007 8:01PM]

cisco has a good chance of loosing, but if they win do u think the popularity of the phone will decrease because it doesent have the " i " like in all apple products, not a fan of apple, hope they loose and some other company comes out with a better cellphone

[eric @ Feb 17th 2007 8:11PM]

Yeah, because all the other cell phones on the market now are AWESOME.

[Leo @ Feb 18th 2007 4:08AM]

I am a 100% behind applefanboy, Mac is kicking through the door BIG TIME! Not only do they master the any graphic designer needs (on all levels!) but also manage to advertise themselves free of fees everywhere (movies, ads, video-clips, EVERYWHERE!). On their partnership with the intel family have boosted their machines/sales. They also master the sync between programs (iLife'06 ROCKS!!!!). Have a look at the business rates, compatibilities, etc.. Is no surprise that Motorola have joined the apple team, it's no surprise the iPhone (I'm sure they'll come to some kind of "understanding") will be one the best seller of this decade and that's on top of iMacs, iPods (nano, shuffle), the macbooks, the unbeliebly powerful G5 tower..... the list goes on so guys get your freak on!!!! Apple is taking over!!!

[Sapo @ Feb 18th 2007 2:15PM]

keep dreaming, engadget, how much you get from apple a month? considering your site is plagued with their ads..

[nikster @ Feb 20th 2007 8:19PM]

Cisco: Give us teh sexy. We wants it.

Apple: No. You don't get it and you have no idea what you want.

Cisco is trying to get into the consumer space - which is hilarious since Cisco products are difficult to operate even for tech nerds.

[Curtis @ Feb 26th 2007 7:12PM]

I have a feeling Cisco wants to license FairPlay for their set-top boxes and other products.