Apple may have problems with the iPhone

For several years, Apple has steadfastly refused to comment on the rumors that it plans to launch a mobile phone that will inherit the functionality of the super-popular iPod media player line and is likely to become another cult in the US and the rest of the world.

Over the past year, the rumors have intensified so much that almost no one has any doubt that the Californian company will start selling the phone next year, perhaps even at the very beginning. The Internet already accepts bets on the date of this event, and Taiwan business newspapers confidently declare that the first batch of mobile phones is already being assembled on the conveyors of the giant Foxconn. And most recently, the founder of Digg Kevin Rose (Kevin Rose) in his popular video magazine Diggnation revealed well, literally, the whole story about the technical characteristics and appearance of the device.

Virtually no one now calls the Apple phone in any other way but the iPhone. In the headlines of the largest news agencies, in articles of eminent magazines - everywhere he appears under this, you can’t say anything, sonorous name. But ... as is often the case, behind all this tinsel and hype, we overlooked one thing. The fact is that the iPhone trademark has been used by Canadian Comwave , which sells an interesting device for making calls over the Internet (VoIP), for two years now.
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Comwave iPhone is a modem-like box with ports for connecting fixed phones and an Internet line. Together with the IP-telephony service from Comwave, it allows residents of the United States, Canada and the EU to get a lot of convenient services for a small fee.

If we look at the database of US and Canadian trademarks, we will find the following picture. The Canadian Intellectual Property Office has already indicated to Apple that it cannot register its iPhone trademark, as this name has been used in the Canadian market since July 2004. A similar service in the United States provides information that the iPhone brand was introduced by Teledex also for the IP telephony service, and the application for its registration was submitted a year earlier than the application from Apple.

Interestingly, Cisco in 2003 abandoned the rights to the registered iPhone brand, which it has owned since 1999. Apparently, Apple just did not have time to intercept it.

Of course, having deep pockets and a lot of experience in litigation, Apple can eventually negotiate with Comwave and, especially, with a small Teledex. But the thought suggests itself: would it not be easier for her to adopt another name for her phone? For example, iTalk.

On the topic brought The Inquirer .