This past Tuesday Apple did something rather odd (or maybe it isn’t that odd for Apple): the company made an attempt to trademark the word ‘startup’. The plan here seems to be directed at Apple’s various products and services, though it is not certain what role the word startups would possess here.

TMWatch managed to get their hands on an image of Apple’s ‘startup’ trademark application, which gives an idea on what the company is planning. It appears Apple is interested in using the term startup in the realm of education, retail and services, among other things. Other than that, we really don’t know why Apple wants to try to trademark another generic word of the English language.

The following is a snippet from the trademark application:

Class 37: Maintenance, installation and repair of computer hardware, computer peripherals and consumer electronic devices; consulting services in the field of maintenance of computer hardware, computer peripherals, and consumer electronic devices

Class 41: Educational services, including conducting classes, workshops, conferences and seminars in the field of computers, computer software, computer peripherals, mobile phones, and consumer electronic devices and computer-related services; providing information in the field of education

Class 42: Design and development of computer hardware and software; technical support services, namely, troubleshooting of computer hardware and software problems; installation, maintenance and updating of computer software; technological consultancy services in the field of computers, computer software and consumer electronics; computer diagnostic services; computer data recovery

The kicker? Apparently this isn’t the first time Apple has tried such a thing — they tried to trademark ‘startup’ twice already, once in the US and once in Australia. It isn’t clear what happened to the original US trademark application but the Australia one was never accepted.

The application is currently in its early stages of filing, and has yet to be viewed by an intellectual property inspector. Hopefully sense prevails and the application is rejected.

[via TMWatch]