Your second link validates my statement. You can absolutely trademark generic terms. There are limitations though.
Try to create a smartphone or computer company called Apple and see what'll happen. You can't trademark the word Apple for your apple farm because other apple farms must be allowed to use that word to describe their product.
That other companies have Apple in their name is not surprising. A trademark is not universal. There are so called classes and when you apply for a trademark you have to specify which classes you want covered.
Source: I went through this process and applied and was granted a trademark for my company. Other companies hold a trademark on the same term but in different classes.
