Apple Threatens to Sue Over iPhone Skins

Windows Mobile iPhone Skin

Soon after the iPhone unveiling, a group of excited Apple fans who couldn’t wait ’til June to get their hands on the breakthrough communication device created some “iPhone-looking skins” for their Windows Mobile and Palm smartphones, only to receive a threatening letter from Apple after sharing the skins on the Brighthand forums.

The imitation iPhone skins, which mimicked the look of the iPhone interface but did not add any extra features or functionality to Windows handheld devices, were removed from the site.

Apple also sent a cease and desist letter to Paul O’Brien demanding that he remove from his Windows Mobile community MoDaCo.com a screenshot and link to the iPhone skins.

Apparently, Apple thinks it can silence the press for reporting news it does not like. That’s one way to kill the buzz surrounding a new product.

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Cisco Sues Apple Over iPhone Trademark

We all saw it coming. Cisco Systems is suing Apple for infringing on the rights to its iPhone name, which it has held in the US since 1996.

Cisco said Apple approached the company a few years ago looking to use the iPhone name, and the two tech giants had been negotiating ever since to come up with some sort of licensing agreement.

Apparently, though, Steve Jobs decided to unveil the iPhone at Macworld before ever finalizing negotiations with Cisco. Upon realizing this, Cisco gave Apple lawyers until the end of the business day to finalize the contract, which they never did. Not surprisingly, Cisco Systems is pissed off and suing Apple now.

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