Holy Consumer Confusion, Batman! Scarcely a week has passed since Apple announced the availability of iDVD 2, and now faithful viewer Paul Kaplan tips us off to the surprising fact that suddenly iDVD is available for Windows. Sort of. There's just one little catch: the Windows iDVD of which we speak has nothing whatsoever to do with the consumer-friendly DVD authoring tool we know and love, or even with Apple itself-- at least, until Apple's lawyers get involved.

Indeed, this "other" iDVD comes from a company called RAVISENT, and it doesn't much look like anything Uncle Steve would want to show off during a keynote address. Now, alternative items sporting the names of Apple's products are nothing new; for example, there's another ibook, and even another iPOD. But while those two products are very different from Apple's offerings (software for creating "interactive electronic books on the Web" and a voice-over-IP PBX connection unit, respectively), RAVISENT's iDVD just happens to be consumer-targeted software for the creation of DVDs on DVD-R media. Sound familiar at all?

However, despite the fact that RAVISENT's product's identical name and same basic functionality are likely to cause some confusion in the market, Apple's lawyers may just have to keep their guns holstered this time. While we see a slew of trademark symbols plastered all over RAVISENT's press release introducing iDVD, earlier today MacMinute briefly noted that Apple's own press release announcing the availability of iDVD 2 is notably lacking the same. Indeed, iDVD is conspicuously missing from the list of "registered trademarks or trademarks of Apple" at the end of the release. What do you suppose is up with that?

So there it is: two iDVDs, no waiting. At least one is strictly for Windows and the other is for the Mac, because otherwise things would get really scary. And speaking of scary, how much fun would it be if RAVISENT decided to sue Apple for trademark infringement? Oooh, we've got goosebumps just thinking about it. Any suggestions on what Apple should call the product if it's legally forced to drop the "iDVD" moniker? We're kind of pulling for "Super Video Fun Happy Hour," ourselves...