By Sinead Carew

NEW YORK, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Some Palm Inc (PALM.O: Quote, Profile, Research) investors are worried that its highly anticipated new phone, the Pre, may face a legal challenge from Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) over touch-screen technology.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said on a quarterly earnings call on Wednesday that the iPhone maker would use all its weapons to fight any rivals that "ripped off" its intellectual property (IP).

"That could be a warning shot across the bow," Peter Strand, an IP specialist at law firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon said on Thursday.

Analysts said Cook's comments could mean that Apple is planning a legal case against Palm for when the Pre comes on the market in the first half of this year.

Specifically, the concern is that Apple could assert IP rights against Palm over Pre's multi-touch interface, which lets users navigate a website by pinching their fingers together or spreading them apart on the phone's screen.

The Pre, which also has a slide-out keyboard, was unveiled with much fanfare at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, more than doubling Palm's shares over about 6 days.

Palm shares were down 27 cents, or 3.4 percent, at $7.57 in afternoon trade on Nasdaq, after falling as low as $7.15 earlier in the session. Analysts said Cook's comments had weighed on the shares.

The retail price of the Pre has not been divulged.