RE: Trademark symbols in software?

["Andrew Warren" <awarren -at- synaptics -dot- com>]

Brigitte Johnston wrote:

> My company sells a software program. Many pages/windows in this
program
> contain acronyms for certain "tools" that my company has developed,
for
> example, BRIEF.  Each and every instance of these acronyms is followed
> by a trademark (TM) symbol (even if the acronym appears more than once
> on a page).  My question is, is this necessary?  This is our software,
> so must we include that trademark symbol for these acronyms?  Or,
> should there perhaps be a note/message somewhere near or on the login
> page that covers it?  The symbols really seem to clutter up otherwise
> nicely-designed and organized pages.

Brigitte:

The only reliable source for this information is your IP attorney... But
if you examine commercial software from companies that may be assumed to
have competent legal resources (e.g., Apple, Microsoft, Adobe), you'll
see that their trademarks are only identified with "TM" or "R" symbols
in the "splash screen" shown at program startup and in the "Help:About"
window (and maybe also on the main/search page for their online help).
Trademark symbols never appear in the program's menus, dialog boxes,
windows, etc.

Again, though, your attorney is the only reliable source for legal
information.  If you're planning to try to convince your company to
remove the symbols, the opinions of a bunch of non-lawyers on an
internet mailing list aren't likely to carry much weight.

-Andrew

=== Andrew Warren  - awarren -at- synaptics -dot- com
=== Synaptics, Inc - Santa Clara, CA
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