Apple, HTC in Trademark Tangle

Apple Computer has an uncanny knack for getting in the way of trademarks... or so it seems...

Previously, when the company unveiled it's eagerly anticipated iPhone, Cisco slapped a lawsuit against it over use of the 'iPhone' trademark. Incidentally, Linksys' VoIP phone is also called iPhone, and Cisco, which happens to be Linksys' parent company, owns the 'iPhone' trademark.

Now with the launch of iPod Touch, Apple is once again in danger of having stepped on someone else's toes... This time round, it's Taiwan-based HTC's turn to feel the heat...

HTC launched the HTC Touch well before Apple's iPod Touch. The HTC Touch features a TouchFLO sweep launcher sitting atop Windows Mobile. It's a keyboard-free and button-free Windows Mobile phone that sports an unraised bezel and a solid glass face among others.

HTC chief executive officer and president, Peter Chou, reportedly said that HTC has registered 'Touch' as a worldwide trademark, and that the company "is proud to share the same vision as Apple over touch screen functions".

While Chou said nothing about whether HTC would sue Apple over use of it's trademark, a top HTC official reportedly made a pointed reference to the ability of Apple and Cisco to 'reach a mutually satisfactory agreement' before footnoting the need for 'further observation' around the 'Touch' trademark rights question.

Meanwhile, as far as precedents go, Cisco's suit against Apple ended in a mutually convenient agreement -- one wherein both would continue to make use of the 'iPhone' trademark in the market.