Cisco agrees to give Apple more time in iPhone row

Apple and Cisco agreed to extend the time Apple has to respond to Cisco's lawsuit surrounding the iPhone, in order to discuss trademark rights and interoperability, an Associated Press report said.

The report said Cisco, which makes routers and switches to link networks and power the Internet, sued Apple over alleged trademark infringement for calling its new cell phone-iPod device iPhone.

The Associated Press report quoted Apple COO Tim Cook as saying that the Cisco lawsuit 'silly,' and said Cisco's trademark registration was 'tenuous at best.'

'If Cisco wants to challenge us,' Cook said, 'we're confident we'll prevail.'

Cisco claims Apple's new device is 'deceptively and confusingly similar' to its own line of cordless Web-enabled phones from the company's Linksys division, the report said.

Apple says it's entitled to use the name iPhone because its device operates over a cellular network, unlike Cisco's phones, the report further said.