Apple is scheduled to go to trial with a startup to fight over a three-letter word: Pod.

The trademark battle centers on independent entrepreneur Daniel Kokin (right), founder of startup Sector Labs, and his in-development video projector called Video Pod. Apple had previously filed oppositions against Kokin's usage of "Pod," alleging that it would cause customers to confuse it with Apple's iPod products.

Wired.com first reported on Kokin's trademark battle with Apple in early 2009, and now the two parties are finally set to go to trial over the next month.

"My team started working on the Video Pod in 2000, and it took us years to go from prototype to funded," Kokin said. "At that time, Apple didn’t even enter our minds as a competitor. Now it’s 2010, and I still don’t think Apple is interested in video projection, but I’m supposed to rename our product because Apple also uses pod?”

This trademark fight is nothing personal: Apple has historically filed oppositions against small tech-related businesses attempting to use Pod in their product names. Names that have come under fire include MyPodder, TightPod, PodShow and even Podium. Sector Labs is the only company to go to trial with Apple over using the Pod branding.

Ana Christian, Kokin's lawyer, says the fight is about more than allowing small businesses to use Pod in their product names. She noted a trend in the tech industry, in which large corporations have been attempting to assume ownership of ordinary words. For example, Facebook recently filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Teachbook over use of the word book. Other companies have also aggressively defended trademarks on common words, such as Microsoft with the word windows.

"I'm trying to look at it on the big picture," Christian said. "What I'm hoping to do with this case is to really reach a lot broader of an audience and make it so entrepreneurs and small businesses can use the English language as they see fit in branding their products."

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Apple and Sector Labs are undergoing a paper trial, in which each party has 30 days to gather and present evidence in paper form, to be submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Apple filed its 873-page paper (.pdf) Sept. 20, and Sector Labs' testimony begins Oct. 18.

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Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com, courtesy Daniel Kokin