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Subject:Re: Fwd: capitalization of proper names From:"Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 8 Nov 2002 10:16:09 -0500
Jan Henning <henning -at- r-l -dot- de> wrote:
>
>We have a similar situation in one of our projects. The solution we
>agreed upon is two-pronged:
>
>- Try to avoid using the name at the beginning of a sentence.
>
>- Where it cannot be avoided, do not capitalize the name.
>
>I am not aware of any general rules covering this situation.
>
Chiming in ...
I would agree with Jan on the first two points--avoidance and the use of the lowercase. However I have recently learned (in dealing with a trademark application) that there actually is a general rule of sorts. It's a bit confusing, so bear with me. By the way, my understanding is that this rule applies internationally.
You can register a trademark for a word. In the example given, the word SOFT.WARE could be registered.
You can register a trademark for a design. So, in the example given, if soft.WARE were executed in Adobe Illustrator using some funky font, then converted to outlines and tweaked a bit, that outline design could be registered. (Colors don't matter--the registration documents are monochrome.)
You cannot register the form soft.WARE as text. That is, this form is equivalent to the block form SOFT.WARE, legally.
HOWEVER, you can certainly, as a matter of company marketing strategy, CHOOSE always to type it that way, in whatever font the text is set in. (I recommend this, and, like Jan, I recommend keeping the s lowercase at the beginning of a sentence.) This has no bearing on intellectual property rights or trademark law; it's just good marketing practice.
NONETHELESS, when you send out your carefully crafted news release about soft.WARE, most media editors will, without any compunction whatever, render it as Soft.ware or even Software. If that is what their style guide dictates, they have the absolute right and duty to do this, no matter how unfair it may seem to you and your marketing VP. Don't even try to squawk about it, or they'll blacklist you and toss your releases in the trash.
So, anyway, that's the "general rule."
HTH,
Dick
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