Apple and Cisco Reach Settlement

The Cisco vs. Apple lawsuit has now come to an end as the two sides signed an agreement allowing Apple the use of the iPhone trademark throughout the world.

Also, Cisco and Apple would analyze opportunities for interoperability in the security, consumer and enterprise communication areas. Other terms of their agreement remain confidential.

Cisco has filed a lawsuit against Apple last month for using the iPhone name for their announced mobile phone, name that was previously registered as a Cisco trademark. Cisco owns the iPhone trademark through its Linksys consumer wireless division. They use the name for a line of internet-based phones.

While the network giant said the lawsuit was mainly because Apple didn't respect their intellectual property, the Cupertino-based company qualified the lawsuit as "silly", because their device would work over a cellular network and Cisco phones do not.

The iPhone was announced this January at the MacWorld Expo and Cisco was confident at the time they had reached an agreement with Apple. The Cisco CEO John Chambers said they were looking "for just interoperability, or the ability of the Apple phone to work smoothly with Cisco product." Apple refused the interoperability request and so Cisco took legal charges.

Reports say Apple may also face legal issues in Canada on its iPhone trademark. Canadian Comwave Telecom has been using the iPhone brand since 2004 to sell Internet phone services and they filed documents opposing Apple's motion to take the name for its new device.

News yesterday reported that Apple may also be facing more legal actions from Quantum Research. They feel the iPhone's touch-screen charge transfer technology infringes on one of their patents.

For more news on legal issues with the iPhone, stay posted.