Cisco Systems has filed a lawsuit against Apple over a claim that it has infringed its trademark by using the name iPhone.
After two years of top secret development Apple unveiled the long-awaited iPhone in San Francisco on Tuesday. The iPhone is a hybrid of a mobile phone and the firm's market-leading MP3 player iPod.
But networking equipment maker Cisco Systems has held the trademark for the iPhone name since 2000. One of its divisions launched a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) device called iPhone early last year.
It claims that Apple had repeatedly requested the use of the name for its new product and after it refused, it created another company to try to obtain the rights to use the name.
According to reports, Cisco Systems and Apple were in discussions on Monday and close to completing a deal on the use of the name. They claim Cisco Systems filed the lawsuit after Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs officially launched the product before finalising an agreement over the name.
It is asking the court for an injunction over the use of the name, and damages from Apple.
But Apple is confident that it has not infringed the Cisco System's trademark, referring to the lawsuit as "silly". It says that there are a number of companies already using the name iPhone and that Apple is the first company to use the iPhone name for a mobile phone.
"If Cisco challenges us on it we are very confident we will prevail," said a spokesperson.
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