The biggest Australian retailer Woolworths has been legally challenged by the US-based Apple, which has said that Woolworth's new fruit logo is distinctly similar to the well-known Apple symbol.

Despite the fact that the Sydney-based Woolworths has insisted that the new company logo is a stylized "W" or a piece of peeled fruit to represent fresh produce, Apple strongly feels that the symbol bears a close resemblance to its own logo.

What is apparently disquieting for Apple is that Woolworth has submitted an application for a blanket trademark, which would eventually allow the company to brand itself on any product.

In an attempt to impede the progress of the Woolworth application, pertaining to the contentious new logo, Apple has set out to persuade IP Australia, the Federal Government agency responsible for governing trademarks in the country, to reject the application.

Going by the IP Australia rules, any company can challenge the legality of another corporate logo provided that it can convincingly argue that it may create confusion in the minds of consumers.

Commenting on the Apple move to block Woolworths' application, Hans Hulsbosch, the designer of the Woolworths logo, said that Apple is taking trademark protection "to the extreme."

Rebuffing Apple's logic behind the legal challenge, Hulsbosch added that "based on this logic, they would have to take action against every fruit-seller!"