It looks like Cisco wants a chunk of Apple months before a single iPhone is sold.

Cisco Systems, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Apple, Inc. for trademark violation. Cisco is asking the U.S. District Court of San Francisco to stop Apple from using the name iPhone, which was also the name of Cisco’s recently released Linksys VoIP phone.

Cisco’s argument is that it owns the trademark since 2000, albeit in a more conventional form with the first letter, “I,” capitalized. This apparently had an immediate effect on Apple’s shares which fell $1.49 Thursday, a sizable chunk taken from Apple’s gains after iPhone’s announcement – not enough to dampen the gains earlier (all of $7.10) the same day the Apple iPhone was announced.

Cisco claims that Apple have approached them about the Iphone name years ago and have been in negotiations until hours before Steve Job’s keynote at MacWorld 2007. “We certainly expected that since they had gone ahead and announced a product without receiving permission to use the brand, that meant that the negotiation was concluded,” said Cisco senior vice president and general counsel Mark Chandler.

Meanwhile, Apple’s response is smug, calling Cisco’s lawsuit “silly.” “We believe that Cisco’s U.S. trademark registration is tenuous at best,” Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris 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.”

According to Cisco, the current identity of both iP/Ip-hones is irrelevant since both phones can evolve with new features while still bearing the same name.

Cisco may want more than just a chunk of Apple, though. Apple might well remember the rumors last year of Cisco’s interest in Nokia, the world’s largest cellphone maker, which must have sent jitters to Apple even though they’re very good at not showing it.