The Platform Opinions and Insights from Cisco

Cisco General Counsel on State of Technology in the Law

The legal industry sometimes seems not to be at the forefront of industries being transformed by technology.  Mark Chandler is our SVP and General Counsel and today in San Diego, CA he gave a luncheon speech at the Northwestern School of Law’s 34th Annual Securities Regulation Institute.  The conference brings together national leaders in securities law, accounting and government. The keynote address was from SEC Chairman Chris Cox.
All of us at Cisco are tasked with using technology to make us more productive and more efficient and the legal group is no different.  Among his chief legal officer duties, Chandler is tasked with utilizing technology to streamline legal processes and embed technology into the legal systems and processes that he implements.  Clearly, there are legal hurdles as well as technological ones with this approach.  In his speech today, Chandler talked about some of the challenges and opportunities utilizing technology in the law . He notes that the legal industry sometimes seems to be “the last vestige of the medieval guild system to survive into the 21st century” and ends his speech saying to the nearly 500 at the conference, “The opportunity is there to recognize the business realities that will be driven by new technology. We can seize the chance to offer more value to clients. We can seize the opportunity for our own employees to be more engaged and productive.”
So, here is Mark Chandler’s speech on the “State of Technology in the Law.” The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog calls it, “a speech worth reading.”  I hope you enjoy it.

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Posted by John Earnhardt at 04:13PM PST

Donors Conference for Lebanon Raises $7.8 BILLION

Today in Paris, donor nations, government and business leaders came together to address the economic and rebuilding issues that Lebanon is facing as a nation.  The conference was hosted by French President Jacques Chirac and the group includes Lebanon Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and business leaders, including our own John Chambers.  Prime Minister Siniora is quoted in a Reuters story as saying, “Even in times of great despair our determination has never diminished. We have faith in the people of Lebanon.”

Other business executives leading this effort are Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, Yousif Ghafari, Chairman, GHAFARI, Inc.; and Dr. Ray Irani, Chairman, President and CEO, Occidental Petroleum Corporation.  They were asked to lead this effort in September by U.S. President George Bush. 

Chambers stated, “Only occasionally do you have an opportunity to make a difference in a person’s life, much less in a community.  Through this partnership, we have a chance to make a difference in a country and perhaps even a region.”  You can read a full Q&A on the Lebanon Partnership with Chambers here.  Information on the Lebanon Partnership here.

More info on the partnership, as well as quotes from Prime Minister Siniora, Secretary Rice and the business leaders involved, can be accessed on the press release here.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 02:29PM PST

Taking Umbrage With WSJ’s Holman Jenkins Over iPhone Column

The old adage in communications is never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. However, there isn’t an equal adage for 1’s and 0’s, so, hence, as Cisco invented the router and the network which is the platform for all current communications, I think it is appropriate to respond to Wall Street Journal columnist Holman Jenkins on this Cisco blog. (Note: please read this blog’s disclaimer…I am clearly speaking for myself here.)

He wrote a column last week (January 17th) entitled “iFoodfight” about the iPhone  trademark and Cisco’s suit against Apple. If you have a WSJ subscription, you can read it online here. He’s a good writer and a good columnist, but I had to wait a few days to respond so I could calm down in response to this one. Here is what I would write him:

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Posted by John Earnhardt at 07:21PM PST

Open Source Researcher Alerts Cisco to GPL Issue

Last week, an open-source software researcher, Armijn Hemel, a consultant with Loohuis Consulting, alerted some bloggers and other media about one of our iPhone models (WIP300) not being compliant with the GNU general public license.  Cisco has thoroughly investigated the information Mr. Hemel brought to our attention related to the Cisco iPhone WIP300 model as reported. Based on our investigation, Cisco is taking steps to resolve a single issue raised regarding this product’s compliance with the GNU General Public License, or GPL.

Cisco has thoroughly investigated the other issues raised and verified the product’s compliance with the GPL. We thank Mr. Hemel for apprising us of this matter and we encourage others in the open-source community to continue working with Cisco in these important areas of research and development.  Compliance with open standards is very important to us and we will continue to take the necessary actions to ensure we are meeting the requirements of open source licenses we use.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 11:36AM PST

Awards Season Results Are In: Cisco Best Company to Work For

The Golden Globes.  The Oscars.  The Bloggies.  The Fortune “Best Companies to Work For.”  Some of them have been announced, some are coming soon.

Cisco was not nominated for The Golden Globes or the Oscars this year, but for the 10th year in a row, Cisco has been named one of The 100 Best Companies to Work For in the U.S by Fortune Magazine.  In 2007, Cisco is number 11, up from number 25 in 2006, making the company the largest technology employer in the top 20.

What makes Cisco a great place to work?  In my estimation (I wasn’t surveyed), smart people; smart, innovative, relevant products; an aspirational mission to change the way we work, live, learn and play through the network; on-site dental, daycare, haircuts, oilchanges, drycleaning; ownership: virtually all employees are shareholders; and last, but not least, a real passion among employees and our executive team that we really are making a difference in the world by connecting people through the network, whether it is for healthcare, entertainment, education, retail, research or whatever.  While you may think it sounds cheesy, we truly believe that the network is the platform for all of life’s interactions.  Who makes that network?  That’s right, the #11 best place to work in America and proud of it!!

Congratulations, of course, to our Silicon Valley neighbors who also made the list: Google (#1), Genentech (#2), Network Appliance (#6), Adobe Systems (#31), Intuit (#33) and Yahoo! (#44).

Posted by John Earnhardt at 05:22PM PST

Blogosphere is Alive and Well

In the past week and a half or so, because of our suit against Apple for infringing on our iPhone trademark, I’ve nearly spent more time on other blog sites than I have in the previous two years since I started blogging at Cisco.  I’ve come across a lot of very interesting and thoughtful bloggers (as well as some very funny ones) and thought that I’d highlight a few of them for your reading pleasure.  This is, in no way, an exhaustive list and if your favorite tech blog isn’t listed, please comment and I’ll publish it.  As a nominator for this year’s Bloggies I may or may not have voted for some of the blogs listed below.  It’s a secret ballot, so I’ll never tell.

TechCrunch - Most of you already know this blog, but I still highlight it as a quality resource for learning about technology trends and culture.
GigaOm - Ditto
SiliconValleyWatcher - Ditto
The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs - very well written and very funny.
“Between the Lines” blog at ZDNET with Dan Farber and Larry Dignan - In the know and a good read.  Ed Burnette should also be called out for his analysis work on his ZDNet blog as well as covering “software, gadgets and games.”
ValleyWag - well described as a “tech gossip rag.”
Crunchgear - Ditto to #1.
And, last but not least, of course the ever utilized and ever useful Technorati and Digg.

Thanks for the good reading, bloggers, and keep up the good work.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 02:10PM PST

Beam Me Up to the Store of the Future

Sign me up for one of those biometric scanners at the cash register. I’m tired of having to scavenge around for my wallet, extract my debit card, slide it through the card scanner, and punch in all the codes and buttons. Let me just press my finger on the reader and be on my way with my groceries.

And I won’t mind punching my size 36 x 30 into a kiosk if lights begin flashing to guide me to my correct size in Lee jeans. I don’t mind giving up the hunt each time I’ve got to rummage through 20 pairs of jeans to find my size.

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Posted by David Barry at 08:23AM PST

Cisco to Blogosphere: We’re Listening

We’ve been following our iPhone trademark issue in the blogosphere closely and it’s been interesting to see the commentary from some posters suggesting that somehow Cisco either in the US or Europe didn’t meet the requirements to maintain the iPhone trademark. Our response is pretty simple: We have met all elements required by all authorities to maintain our mark.  We’ve been pretty direct about the fact that we’ve been shipping the iPhone since last spring.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 11:31AM PST

More Answers on Cisco iPhone Trademark Issue

First, a very brief recap.  Our property (the iPhone trademark) is being used without our permission.  We filed suit to stop this.  It is as simple as that.

Now, to clarify some questions that are out there:

1)  Has Cisco maintained its rights to the iPhone trademark?  Cisco has used its iPhone trademark in all ways necessary to maintain it and keep it valid.  We are not a litigious company, but we will act when our property is used without our permission.

2) Cisco has been saying that this dispute with Apple wasn’t over money but over the desire to be more interoperable with Apple.  What does that mean?  Let’s be clear…this issue is about infringement on Cisco’s trademark.  On interoperability, in general, we were asking for the two companies to work together to make our products and technologies more interoperable.  Cisco has been a longtime proponent of interoperability within the high-tech industry for the benefit of the companies involved and, more importantly, the end-users of those products and technologies.  Interoperability is important because, as we’ve said, we see the potential for convergence of the home phone, cell phone, work phone, and the PC as limitless and we see the network as the foundation for innovation that allows converged devices to deliver the services consumers want.

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Posted by John Earnhardt at 08:06PM PST

UPDATE on Cisco’s iPhone Trademark

Commentary from Mark Chandler, Cisco’s SVP and General Counsel, on Apple’s infringement of Cisco’s iPhone trademark.

Today’s announcement from Cisco regarding our suit with Apple over our iPhone trademark has spurred a lot of interesting questions.  Most importantly, this is not a suit against Apple’s innovation, their modern design, or their cool phone. It is not a suit about money or royalties. This is a suit about trademark infringement.

Cisco owns the iPhone trademark. We have since 2000, when we bought a company called Infogear Technology, which had developed a product that combined web access and telephone.  Infogear’s registrations for the mark date to 1996, before iMacs and iPods were even glimmers in Apple’s eye.  We shipped and/or supported that iPhone product for years.  We have been shipping new, updated iPhone products since last spring, and had a formal launch late last year. Apple knows this; they approached us about the iPhone trademark as far back as 2001, and have approached us several times over the past year.

For the last few weeks, we have been in serious discussions with Apple over how the two companies could work together and share the iPhone trademark.  We genuinely believed that we were going to be able to reach an agreement and Apple’s communications with us suggested they supported that goal. We negotiated in good faith with every intention to reach a reasonable agreement with Apple by which we would share the iPhone brand.

So, I was surprised and disappointed when Apple decided to go ahead and announce their new product with our trademarked name without reaching an agreement. It was essentially the equivalent of "we’re too busy."  Despite being very close to an agreement, we had no substantive communication from Apple after 8pm Monday, including after their launch, when we made clear we expected closure.  What were the issues at the table that kept us from an agreement? Was it money? No. Was it a royalty on every Apple phone? No. Was it an exchange for Cisco products or services? No.

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Posted by Cisco PR at 06:36PM PST

Consumer-Controlled Experiences to Drive Future Connected Home and Beyond says Chambers at CES 07

Cisco CEO and chairman John Chambers painted a compelling portrait today of the future connected home and the connected consumer at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In this future we will see the convergence of all forms of human expression across any device, anywhere at anytime, and that Cisco will be a dominant player in this market.

To achieve this exciting future, Chambers insisted that siloed applications that now rule the home will be destroyed. Video will be the killer application. But it will converge with voice, data and mobility across the intelligent network. To succeed, this network and future environment must be open, simple for the consumer to use, safe and virtual (available anytime, anywhere, on any device).

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Posted by David Barry at 06:43PM PST

Cisco’s iPhone Trademark

Given Apple’s numerous requests for permissions to use Cisco’s iPhone trademark over the past several years and our extensive discussions with them recently, it is our belief that with their announcement today, Apple intends to agree to the final document and public statement that were distributed to them last night and that addressed a few remaining items. We expect to receive a signed agreement today.

Penny Bruce, Director, Corporate Public Relations, Cisco

Posted by Penny Bruce at 01:10PM PST

Cisco Connected Home Debuts at CES

At CES, John Chambers will be speaking about the Connected Home, Cisco’s vision for the future. On the News@Cisco site, Chief development officer, Charlie Giancarlo, discussed how networking technology is changing digital communications and entertainment.

Cisco launched its Second Life presence in December, and is now bringing the connected home to life in Second Life. At CES, as Cisco talks about its view of the future, Cisco is presenting its view of the future in Second Life with the Cisco Connected Home.

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Posted by David Barry at 07:00AM PST

Seven New iPhones Head Cisco Linksys Announcements at CES

Extending the power of presence technology to mobile IP phones, two of the new seven iPhones that Linksys introduced today at CES integrate popular communication clients, Skype and Yahoo! Messenger with Voice, into the handset. These new iPhones allow you to see when friends or family are online and ready to receive a call. What’s more, these client-enabled iPhones free you from having to sit at your PC to talk and also free you from having to keep the PC always-on to make calls over the Internet.

In addition to enabling mobility and voice calls, the Dual-Mode Cordless Phone for Yahoo! Messenger with Voice allows access to Yahoo information services. Skip hunting for the phone book or returning to your computer to search for a phone number. Do it from the phone and also check weather forecasts directly from the phone’s display.

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Posted by David Barry at 06:41AM PST

Scientific Atlanta at CES 2007

Scientific Atlanta, a Cisco company, will be much in evidence at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Scientific Atlanta gear will be a key part of The Connected Home, Cisco’s evolving vision to provider consumers at home access to all types of content (premium video, photos, music, data, voice and home video) on televisions, personal computers, cell phones and mobile devices.

Scientific Atlanta will also demonstrate Direct to Disc. This product concept will enable consumers to purchase on-demand video, music or software from their service provider and then--using Scientific Atlanta’s DVR with built-in DVD set-top--record the content to a disc.

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Posted by David Barry at 06:34AM PST