Cisco sues Apple

So the issue wasn't settled before Apple launched the iPhone. Hmm - well clearly Steve Jobs was so excited about the whole thing that he just couldn't wait and decided to use Macworld to make the announcement anyway.

Cisco said it was expecting an agreement to be reached before the end of the day on Tuesday, but this did not happen, and the company, which owns the iPhone brand in the U.S., is clearly not happy about it.

"It is not a suit about money or royalties. This is a suit about trademark infringement," remarked Cisco SVP and General Counsel Mark Chandler.

Maybe this was the sticking point for Apple:

"Fundamentally we wanted an open approach," said Chandler. "We hoped our products could interoperate in the future. In our view, the network provides the basis to make this happen - it provides the foundation of innovation that allows converged devices to deliver the services that consumers want ... And we wanted to make sure to differentiate the brands in a way that could work for both companies and not confuse people, since our products combine both web access and voice telephony."