Not surprisingly Cisco Systems is suing Apple over the iPhone name. As we recently reported, "iPhone Unveiled by Linksys". We assumed that Cisco Systems, owner of Linksys, had the name trademarked. Well I guess we were correct. The Apple iPhone was unveiled earlier this week after 30 months and millions of dollars in top-secret development. But the sleek new iPod-phone combination could wind up costing the company a lot more.Cisco today announced that it has filed a lawsuit to forbid Apple from using the name "iPhone." It obtained the iPhone trademark in 2000 after the acquisition of Infogear, which previously owned the mark and sold iPhone products for several years.Infogear's original filing for the trademark dates to March 20, 1996. Linksys, a division of Cisco, has held the trademark to brand a line of its own Internet-enabled phones that began shipping last spring and officially launched three weeks ago.

Cisco said Apple approached the company several years ago seeking to use the name, and the two have been negotiating ever since to hammer out a licensing agreement. But Cisco said the talks broke down just hours before Apple's chief executive, Steve Jobs, took to the stage Tuesday at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo to introduce the multimedia device. With its lawsuit, Cisco is seeking injunctive relief to prevent Apple from copying Cisco's iPhone trademark.