Everyone’s seen the new iphone, right?  It’s all over the news with a zillion features and a very nice design that builds on Apple’s runaway smash-hit, the ipod.

Well, what you may not have seen is the fact that Apple is being sued by Cisco over the use of the name iphone.  The Wall Street Jouranl recently reported that Cisco is claiming infringement of its intellectual property rights because in fact, it has been using the name iphone for a telephone device since 2001.

I have to assume that Apple has some pretty good IP counsel who no-doubt knew of Cisco’s prior use and the legal liability the name could create for Apple, no?  Well then why is the title of this post complimentary of Apple’s legal counsel?  Was I being sarcastic?  No, I was not! 

Think about it. . . Apple has a limited window of opportunity to capitalize on its ipod franchise.  And the risk of maybe being sued, and maybe not being able to settle, and maybe having to pay-out tens of millions of dollars, pales in comparison to the hundreds of millions of dollars of profit Apple stands to earn for shareholders by making the decision to go-ahead with the iphone.

This tells me that Apple’s IP counsel took the time to understand their client’s problem/opportunity in all three dimensions, as discussed in the How To Close Every Sales Call program.  Hey, I wonder if they might have heard my schtick on the subject!?!