Cisco has decided to file suit against Apple for trademark infringement. Apple made a bold move when it announced that it called the new mobile calling device it launched on Tuesday an “iPhone,” as the name had already been chosen and trademarked by Cisco’s Linksys (News - Alert) division when it launched its suite of iPhone devices just last month.

Cisco filed the suit in federal court in San Francisco yesterday in hopes to prevent Apple from “infringing upon and deliberately copying and using Cisco’s registered iPhone trademark,” noted Cisco’s news release.

According to Cisco, the technology giant obtained the iPhone trademark seven years ago after completing the acquisition of previous iPhone products mark owner Infogear. Cisco said Infogear had reportedly sold these products for several years. Cisco revealed Infogear's original filing for the trademark date as March 20, 1996.

“Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco’s iPhone name,” said Mark Chandler, senior vice president and general counsel, Cisco. “There is no doubt that Apple’s new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission.”

Cisco and Apple were reportedly holding negotiations just until end of day on Tuesday, when all efforts fell through.

“Today’s iPhone is not tomorrow's iPhone. The potential for convergence of the home phone, cell phone, work phone and PC is limitless, which is why it is so important for us to protect our brand,” added Chandler.

Apple Representative Steve Dowling called Cisco’s move silly. He told CNBC “there are already several companies using the name iPhone for VoIP products. Their trademark registration is tenuous at best. We’re the first company to use the iPhone name for a cell phone.”

It seems that Apple’s camp is confident that it will win the battle. At least this is what Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris’ comments to CNBC’s Jim Goldman show:

“We believe that Cisco’s U.S. trademark registration is tenuous at best,” she said. “Apple’s the first company to use the iPhone name for a cell phone. And if Cisco wants to challenge us on it, we’re very confident we will prevail.”

Linksys’ new VoIP offering, the iPhone suite of VoIP handheld devices, integrates services from Yahoo! Messenger with Voice, to help enable real-time presence features, which allow consumers to see when their friends and family are actually online and ready to talk. Local Search, weather forecasts and access to music, photos, and streaming video are also available. Included in the suite are two new products: the iPhone Dual-Mode Internet Telephony Kit for Skype (News - Alert) and the iPhone Wireless-G Phone for Skype.

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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet and Internet Telephony magazine. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit her columnist page.