“• It is a stylised ‘W’ for Woolworths with the addition of an abstract leaf symbol representing fresh food;
• It is reminiscent of one of the most famous Woolworths logos of the 1970s;
• It represents a person–as in ‘The Fresh Food People’ and the Woolworths focus on its customers.”

– Woolworths announces its new logo.

Woolworths Supermarkets describes its new logo as “an abstract leaf symbol” intended to represent fresh food. But to Apple, the stylized “W” looks far too much like its own namesake fruit, which could be problematic should the supermarket chain someday decide to peddle its own brand of consumer electronics. And so Apple is petitioning IP Australia, the local agency that governs trademarks, to reject the Woolworths application for the mark.

It seems an overly litigious move, even for Apple (AAPL). As Hans Hulsbosch, the Woolworths logo designer dryly notes, “Based on this logic, they would have to take action against every fruitseller.”

That said, the Woolworths application is for a blanket trademark on a broad range of goods, including electronics, specifically “apparatus for recording, transmission or reproduction of sound or images…calculating machines, data processing equipment and computers…computer devices and computer peripheral devices…[and] computer hardware and software.”

While it might seem unlikely that the supermarket chain would ever manufacture devices, it did recently begin dabbling in cellphones, so it’s not entirely out of the question. Said a Woolworths spokesman: “While we can’t rule [computers, musical players, or other devices] out, we haven’t got any plans at the moment.”

This isn’t the first time Apple has challenged a trademark. Last year the company went after New York City’s GreeNYC campaign claiming its logo would create confusion in the marketplace. And in 2007, Apple settled a long-running trademark dispute with The Beatles’ parent company, Apple Corps.

Woolworths’ decision came after it found Blu-ray movies outsold HD DVD by 10 to 1 in its 820 stores. “Sales figures clearly show that the market is moving toward one format of high-definition DVD,” said Woolworths’ DVD buyer Steven McGunigel. “The main reason is the success of Sony’s PlayStation 3 machine. Because it plays Blu-ray discs, there are over three-quarters of a million homes in the U.K. that can view the new high-definition format. There is no where near that number of HD DVD players around.”

Another nasty blow for the HD DVD, which appears to be fast losing the support of its initial backers. Last week, Warner Bros., New Line and HBO all abandoned HD DVD. And according to Variety, Universal’s exclusive commitment to HD DVD has expired. Toshiba, HD DVD’s, main backer, is soldiering on in spite of such setbacks. It’s even gone and purchased a 30-second TV spot during next week’s Super Bowl. But as Andy Parsons, senior vice president of the Blu-ray Disc Association points out, it’s no silver bullet. “I certainly admire [Toshiba’s] chutzpah,” Parsons told Home Media Magazine. “They can certainly choose to do as they please with their marketing. Running a Super Bowl ad is not likely to convince consumers that HD DVD will win the format war.”

And in the end, is this particular format war even worth worrying about? Isn’t physical media doomed? “People are saying Blu-ray won the war but who cares,” Seagate CEO Bill Watkins said earlier this year. “The war is over physical distribution versus electrical distribution, and Blu-ray and HD lost that. In this, flash memory and hard drives are on the same side. The war is over and the physical guys lost.”