Blawgletter made a guess yesterday — that Steve Jobs welcomes publicity over a Cisco lawsuit to protect its iPhone trademark because the story diverts attention from Jobs’s role in the Apple options-backdating scandal.  Apparently the WSJ didn’t get the memo.

At the head of its iconic "What’s News" column, the online WSJ leads today with "FEDERAL AUTHORITIES ARE actively investigating a backdated stock-option grant awarded to Apple CEO Steve Jobs that carried a false October 2001 date."  So much for diverting attention.

The online Journal (under Editor’s Picks) also pooh-poohs Apple’s defense against the Cisco case, which an Apple spokesman described as "silly".  Far from stretching trademark law to gain a short-term advantage, the article notes, Cisco’s action in fact promotes the company’s core values of open standards and interoperability.  As the kiddies would say, prestigious.

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