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?”

Read the entire article at Wired. | Follow the comment stream on Reddit. Pretty funny.

Start the video at about 4:18

Gadget is relieved you came. By the way, things are about to get very interesting.

For those of you that don’t know, I began developing a personal cinema device (video projection system) called the Video Pod back in 2000.  I’ve been defending trademark since 2007.  My legal battle with Apple Computer is discussed in this post at Wired.

Update: The United States Patent and Trademark Office denied Apple’s motion for summary judgment.  You can read the follow up articles here and here.

Here’s an excerpt from Ars Technica:

Apple is no stranger to aggressively protecting its trademarks and other intellectual property, especially when it comes to its iconic iPod. But in trying to prevent a video projector designer from calling his device “Video Pod,” the company may have inadvertently cast itself as a corporate Goliath taking on an entrepreneurial David, as the United States Patent and Trademark Office has ruled that the dispute should be decided at trial.

Daniel Kokin has spent the last nine years, off and on, working on a design for a video projector. The unique shape of the design is, according to Kokin, best described as a pod, so it’s no surprise he decided to call it a “Video Pod.” When he tried to file for a trademark for Video Pod, Apple ended up filing an objection with the USPTO.

Here’s an excerpt from the piece in Wired:

In 2007, Apple filed an opposition blocking Kokin’s registration of the Video Pod trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and Kokin (pictured right) decided not to back down. Thus far his efforts are paying off: USPTO recently denied Apple’s motion for summary judgment, meaning the two parties must finish this battle in court in front of a judge.

“After a careful review of all of the evidence, on the record presented, we find that there are genuine issues of material fact remaining for trial,” USPTO said in a statement (.pdf). “Accordingly, the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment on opposer’s likelihood of confusion claim are hereby denied.”

Winning the rights for the Video Pod mark is far away and uncertain, but for Kokin, just getting to this step was a victory.

“It’s an amazing feeling, it really is,” Kokin said in a phone interview. “I’m a little guy, and for Apple to be kind of shut down at this stage, I feel vindicated. You start to question your own sanity after a while. Am I doing something wrong? Or am I at a disadvantage because I have no money and therefore I’m supposed to be wrong?”

This case isn’t just about my trademark; it’s about fighting for something my team and I spent years working on.  I don’t expect everyone to understand the importance of standing your ground, especially when favorable odds revolve around those with unlimited resources.