By Cassimir Medford

In a very brief statement issued late Thursday, network equipment giant Cisco Systems said it gave Apple more time to respond to its lawsuit over the Mac maker’s alleged violation of its “iPhone” trademark.

Since the reprieve came at the eleventh hour as Apple’s February 15 deadline was about to expire, analyst Roger Kay believes the company is close enough to a settlement to keep the negotiations going for another week.

Last month Cisco said it sued Apple over the latter’s use of the iPhone name, which Cisco owned through its acquisition of InfoGear Technology in 2000 (see Cisco Files iPhone Suit).

Cisco said it branded new products with the iPhone name last spring. The two companies have discussed the use of the brand since 2001, but have been unable to come to an agreement.

Two weeks ago the companies issued a joint statement saying that Apple was given until February 15 to respond to Cisco’s lawsuit (see iPhone Hits Hold).

But at the eleventh hour of that deadline, Cisco issued a statement saying it had extended the deadline to February 21, at Apple’s behest.

“Apple has asked Cisco for another extension on the deadline for Apple to respond to our lawsuit,” the statement said.

“Cisco has agreed to give Apple an extension until Wednesday, Feb. 21,” the statement continued. “Cisco is fully committed to using the extra time to reach a mutually beneficial resolution.”

Apple introduced its long-awaited iPhone at Macworld last month. The device, a cell phone with a different user interface, got unusually high marks for a product that was not yet available to most reviewers (see Apple Introduces iPhone).

But Cisco sprinkled a little rain on the passing iPhone parade by announcing its lawsuit the day after the iPhone was introduced.

Not About Money?

Cisco claims the lawsuit is not exclusively about money but about future interoperability, innovation, and “collaboration with Apple.”

The company said it was interested in differentiating the iPhone products in the market to minimize confusion.

Mr. Kay, principal analyst with Endpoint Technologies Associates, said he believes there is some future collaboration being discussed, but the negotiations are primarily about money.

“I don’t see what Apple gets out of future collaboration because it is not trying to get into the switch market,” Mr. Kay said.

“At this point it’s about saving face and coming up with an acceptable number,” he added. “Cisco does not want to appear like it got dope-slapped by Apple.”

Shares of Cisco fell $0.15 to $27.41 in recent trading, while Apple shares dropped $0.24 to $84.97.

Canadian Situation

Apple may have another trademark situation waiting for it in Canada. Canadian VoIP service provider Comwave Telecom has also chimed in with its claim of “first use” rights to the iPhone name in Canada.

The Toronto-based company said it has used the iPhone trademark to market both a landline and mobile version of its Internet voice services starting in 2004 (see iPhone in 3-Way Canadian Smackdown).