Ios

There is Cisco IOS and Apple iOS.

Cisco IOS

Cisco IOS (Internetwork Operating System) is the system that most Cisco Systems routers and switches use. IOS is a package of routing, switching, internetworking and telecommunications functions integrated into a multitasking operating system. Cisco used the three letter IOS name prior to Apple.

The IOS network operating system was developed in the 1980s for routers that had only 256 kB memory and low CPU processing power. When IOS was developed, Cisco Systems' main product line were routers. Cisco switches ran CatOS prior to being made to run their IOS operating system.

The IOS command-line interface (CLI) provides a fixed set of multiple-word commands you can use to program and interact with the network equipment.

Cisco IOS is versioned using three numbers and some letters, in the general form a.b(c.d)e, where:

• a is the major version number.
• b is the minor version number.
• c is the release number, which begins at one and increments as new releases in a same way
• d (omitted from general releases) is the interim build number.
• e (zero, one or two letters) is the software release train identifier, such as none (which designates the mainline), T (for Technology), E (for Enterprise), S (for Service provider), XA as a special functionality train, XB as a different special functionality train, etc.

Trademark Legal Dispute

Apple uses the letter capitalization sequence as iOS while Cisco is generally all capitalized as IOS.

The prior agreement is different from 2007, when Apple introduced the iPhone —a trademark that was also owned by Cisco.

Back in the late 1990s a company called Infogear sold a pretty innovative VOIP phone called the iPhone. Then Cisco bought Infogear in 2000 and discontinued the iPhone. Then a few years later Cisco bought Linksys. Then in 2006 a bunch of buzz started about a possible Apple phone probably called the iPhone going by iPod naming convention.

So suddenly Cisco was interested in the iPhone name again to capitalize on Apple's fame. The problem is the iPhone trademark had recently expired since Cisco had abandoned it, but there was a grace period Cisco could use to save it. But to save it they had to state under penalty of perjury that the trademark was in current commercial use, which it wasn't. Cisco hadn't been selling anything called an iPhone for years. Cisco applied for a renewal anyway just days before the grace period ended.

Their evidence of current commercial use was a picture of the shrinkwrapped box for a Linksys CIT200 VOIP phone, but with an "iPhone" sticker slapped on the outside of the shrinkwrap. The renewal was approved. Actual relabeled Linksys iPhones wouldn't ship until about six months after the grace period, and with it the trademark, would have ended. Even then the documentation didn't refer to an iPhone, just the model number.

Cisco defrauded the USPTO to keep its trademark, which is why they were so quick to come to a licensing agreement with Apple for no money handed over. On Apple's side they wanted to release the iPhone, and a years-long lawsuit over Cisco's fraud could have interfered with that, so settling was in their best interest too.