Apple vs. Cisco: The iPhone saga continues

With the unveiling of the iPhone on Tuesday, most of us assumed that the long iPhone saga had finally come to a close. No more rumors, info from "credible sources," or speculation about the device's final name. Well, not quite. Remember the small matter of Cisco owning the rights to the iPhone name, at least in the United States? When Steve announced the iPhone onstage at MacWorld, the logical assumption that most made was that the issue of nomenclature had been resolved over a handshake, a signature and a couple of briefcases full of cash. As it turns out, that wasn't the case. Cisco unveiled their own surprise yesterday--a lawsuit. "Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," said Mark Chandler, senior vice president at Cisco. "There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission."

For more on the continuing iPhone saga:
- see this Ars Technica article

ALSO: Re-live the years of iPhone speculation in this timeline