> "Apple" and "Meta" are just words, yes, but if a second computer company named "Apple" were to appear, this would pretty clearly infringe on the Apple trademark, as opposed to say Apple T-Shirt Company.

Which is exactly why Apple was called Apple Computers, Inc for a long time, because Apple already existed in computer space and Apple Computers was constantly sued by the original Apple until they finally came to an agreement and the original Apple gave the trademark to Apple Computers.