Public papers from the US Patent and Trademark office may help prove that Cisco Systems lost the iPhone trademark last year, according to Jay Behmke, a trademark law attorney at CMPR.
Cisco did not sign the required Declaration of Use – which states “that you have been using the trademark continuously” in the past six years – until four days before the end of a six-month grace period granted to companies who miss the deadline.
And here’s a photo (thanks to Ed Burnette of ZDNet) that shows the required “copy of a label or other packaging showing the trademark in use” that Cisco sent to the US Patent and Trademark office:
The word “iPhone” is stickered on to the box, and there is no mention of it visible anywhere on the packaging.
Burnette said if Apple can prove in court that “Cisco did not actively offer a product named ‘iPhone’ between 1999 and December 2006,” then Cisco’s registration could be cancelled, and you can score one for Apple.