Thursday, January 11, 2007

Does "iPhone" belong to Apple? Does it matter? You bet!

Cisco has announced that it will sue Apple for use of the iPhone name, that Cisco owns, was registered in 2000, and used since 2006. Now legally there seems no doubt that Cisco owns the name, but in the consumer's mind, Apple has for a while. So Cisco becomes the "bad guy" in the minds of many consumers, and Apple gets invaluable publicity whatever the outcome. In the end, even if Cisco gets financial compensation, the loss in value of the Cisco brand name will be much greater - the company which took on a "cult brand!"

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