Steve Jobs & Apple Took the iPhone & iOS Trademarks With Little Opposition from Cisco [New Book on Apple Offers More Insight on How Steve Jobs Obtained the iPhone & iOS Trademark]

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A new book detailing the way Apple worked under Steve Jobs’ supervision, and not only, hit stores earlier this week, Adam Lashinsky’s “Inside Apple,” which offers a different angle on the iconic company following Walter Isaacson’s official probe into Apple from the “Steve Jobs” biography.

Among other details, “Inside Apple” reveals how Apple obtained the iPhone and iOS trademarks. No, it wasn’t Apple that held those trademarks initially but Cisco and Apple was more than surprised to hear the iPhone trademark was not available after deciding to use that product name for its first smartphone. And Apple decided to launch an all-out attack lead by Jobs, to get the trademarks at all costs. Lashinsky details the events between Jobs and Cisco’s then-CEO Charles Giancarlo that eventually got Apple the trademarks it required:

Giancarlo fielded a call directly from Steve Jobs. “Steve called in and said that he wanted it,” Giancarlo recalled. “He didn’t offer us anything for it. It was just like a promise he’d be our best friend. And we said, ‘No, we’re planning on using it.’ ” Shortly after that, Apple’s legal department called to say they thought Cisco had “abandoned the brand,” meaning that in Apple’s legal opinion Cisco hadn’t adequately defended its intellectual property rights by promoting the name. To Apple’s way of thinking this meant the name iPhone was available for Apple’s use. Giancarlo, who subsequently joined the prominent Silicon Valley private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners, said Cisco threatened litigation before the launch. Then, the day after Apple announced its iPhone, Cisco filed suit.

The negotiation displayed some classic Steve Jobs negotiating tactics. Giancarlo said Jobs called him at home at dinnertime on Valentine’s Day, as the two sides were haggling. Jobs talked for a while, Giancarlo related. “And then he said to me, ‘Can you get email at home?’ “ Giancarlo was taken aback. This was 2007, after all, when broadband Internet was ubiquitous in homes in the US, let alone that of a Silicon Valley executive who had worked for years on advanced Internet technology. “And he’s asking me if I’m able to get email at home. You know he’s just trying to press my buttons—in the nicest possible way.” Cisco gave up the fight shortly after that. The two sides reached a vague agreement to cooperate on areas of mutual interest.

Those of you that followed Steve Jobs’ career closely or that have read Isaacson’s biography are probably not surprised to read another episode detailing Jobs’ negotiations skills. Apple apparently got the trademarks, which allowed it to keep using the iPhone product name and replace “iPhone OS” name with the shorter iOS, with almost no actual opposition from Cisco, which makes it look like Apple can get away with pretty much anything, although that’s not the moral of the story.But then again, Cisco never really had a case, did they?

On the same note it will be interesting to see whether Apple will be able to baptize its rumor TV set the iTV or not. After all, there is a certain television network that kind of uses that name.

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