By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 08:00 AM EST (05:00 AM PST)

Apple Computer last month filed for a trademark on the term "MacBook," which may hint at a re-branding of its iBook consumer notebook product line later this year.

The Feb. 22, 2006 filing, made with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, describes MacBook as "computers, notebook computers, computer hardware, computer software, computer peripherals."

The document carries a priority date of Sept. 28, 2005, implying that Apple first filed for the trademark outside the United States late last year -- about three months before the company officially re-branded its professional PowerBook notebook computers under the "MacBook Pro" moniker.

The filing is just the latest evidence to suggest the company will rename its iBook consumer notebooks "MacBooks" early in the Spring when it rolls out a pair of the "stunning" new portables based around a 13-inch widescreen display and Intel's Core Solo and Core Duo processors.

At the unveiling of Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro professional notebook in January, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said the decision to ditch the PowerBook name in favor of MacBook Pro was part of an ongoing company effort to better leverage and distinguish the company's "Mac" trademark and brand along with its personal computer offerings.

Also in January, AppleInsider noted the company had filed for a trademark in New Zealand on the term "Mac Pro" -- which may imply that the company also has aspirations of re-branding its professional desktops, currently called Power Macs, later this year.

In this filing, dated November 18, 2005, Apple broadly described "Mac Pro" as "computers; computer hardware; computer software; computer peripherals; notebook computers; laptop computers; tablet computers; computer servers; handheld computer" and so forth.

A MacBook filing almost identical to the one filed in the Unite States, also turned up in New Zealand on Feb. 23, a day after the US filing was made.