Cisco Sues Apple Over iPhone Name

A spokesperson for Apple wasn't immediately available for comment.

"Steve [Jobs] was obviously busy rehearsing the keynote presentation, that's why he didn't get back to them," joked Mike McGuire, an analyst with Gartner who covers digital media.

McGuire said it would not be in the best interests of either company to "drag this out."

"Anything that involves such a large number of lawyers like that, anything could happen, but I do not believe Apple would want for this to stretch out very long at all," McGuire said in an interview.

"Clearly, it has to be dealt with before they can ship the thing," he said. "If [the lawsuit] did delay the launch, then I think that would say a lot about where we're at with trademark law and [intellectual property] law in general."

Shares of Apple, which set an all-time closing high in the regular session, slipped 44 cents to $96.56 in after-hours trading; Cisco shares gained 4 cents to $28.72.