No, there isn’t an iPhone battery issue. At least not yet. Apple Inc. is actually being sued by Cisco Systems, owners of the “iPhone” name. As it turns out, Cisco has owned the iPhone name since 2000. They even launched a new line of products with the name iPhone just days before Steve Jobs’ speech at Macworld!

I first stumbled across this when googling iPhone yesterday afternoon. High in the rankings was a link to Linksys detailing it’s new VOIP system called, you guessed it, iPhone. Perplexed, I clicked the link but couldn’t find any references to the product line on the page I was directed to. Assuming I must have been mistaken, I gave up until this morning when I saw this.

What I find most interesting about this is the fact that the Apple “iPhone” was essentially named by mac users long before either product was introduced. Even Cisco’s 2000 trademark date doesn’t predate early rumors about apples ipod/cellphone hybrid. Apple themselves even registered the domain http://www.iphone.org/ way back in 1999.

So does Cisco really have anything to be sour about, or are the simply bummed that their attempts to horn in to the iPhone buzz didn’t pay off?

I don’t know either. I’m asking.

About The Author - My name is Stirling McLaughlin. I am married. I am an Art Director, Designer and Illustrator. I work at Atmosphere BBDO. I have lots of ideas. I have a baby girl named Nika Bean. I live in New York City. When I was in college, they put me on TV because I wore a mask and yelled at people. I have a reality show that I wil be starting… any day now. - See My Portfolio