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Rowena Hart wonders <<Could someone out there distill the guidelines for
using the (TM) and (R) symbols in print and online documents?>>
Rule number one is that you should only use (R) once the trademark has been
registered and only use (TM) if you've actually applied for the registration
but not yet received it. Failure to adhere to these guidelines can cause
minor to major problems when you actually do try to register the product
(major ones include being sued by the legitimate trademark holder if it
turns out that someone has already registered your proposed trademark).
Rule number two is that most techwhirlers worry far too much about
trademarks. Look at any large company's manual (e.g., the manuals for Word,
PageMaker, and CorelDraw that are sitting on my desk right now) and you
won't see a trademark symbol anywhere except on the cover and in the
copyright/license pages. Similarly, check any major magazine or newspaper
(e.g., PC Magazine, the local newspaper) and you'll only see (TM) or (R) in
adverts, not in body text. You also won't see the trademark being used as an
adjective, which is the formal practice; I've never seen "MSWord-brand word
processor" or "PageMaker desktop publishing software" in a manual; it's
always "Word" or "Pagemaker" as a noun. Similarly, I've never seen the
financial pages state that "Microsoft(R) today announced record profits."
Since the companies I've mentioned all presumably have high-priced lawyers
to advise them on such issues, I'd have to assume they're following accepted
practice.
The purpose of displaying the trademark is to make sure that people know
you've protected your product's name. That's most important in advertising
(in which I include the cover of a manual and the copyright page).
Similarly, if you're mentioning someone else's product, you have to be very
careful not to make it seem like you're using their trademarked name in a
context that would seem to rob them of ownership of that trademark, and
worst of all if you make it look like their product is yours (e.g, calling
you local house brand of facial tissue "kleenex").
--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
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