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I'm not an attorney and this isn't legal advice.
Basically it comes down to industry and confusion.
Delta is a trademark for an airline. Delta is also a trademark for a faucet company. Two different industries. Is a consumer likely to be confused that Delta airlines made the Delta faucet in their kitchen? No. That use is fine.
Now let's take Apple. They make computers and monitors and music players. A new company starts up and tries selling Apple brand televisions. They're in a similar industry of consumer electronics, and yes consumers are likely to confuse the two brands so the use is not ok.
One case where it's not OK to use a trademark at all: "famous marks", basically trademarks that are famous. Things like Coca Cola, Ford, McDonalds, Marlboro, etc etc. Ford makes cars, but you're not allowed to make Ford t-shirts because the mark is famous and people are likely to confuse it. You can't make Xerox tissues, because people are likely to think it came from the photocopy company.
That's basically it in a nutshell.
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