Re: Use of definite article

["Kathleen MacDowell" <kathleen -at- writefortheuser -dot- com>]

With the mention of trademarks (reg, etc.), I'm starting to recall
where I most recently encountered this issue. The legal dept. of the
last place I worked only wanted brands trademarked once, unless they
occurred associated with a different item (e.g., a specific software
product vs a specific hardware product); they said the best location
was the first most obvious one (e.g., title/heading). That was
consistent with the way I'd learned it, and much easier than doing it
every time.

The only problem I can see with this approach is when you're using a
topic-based content management system, as we were. In this case, one
isn't sure whether the trademarked item will occur in a document where
it has already been referenced or not. So ...

We always had a statement at the end about our marks, so I don't think
it was too much of an issue. I've recently seen a wide range of
opinions about how important marks are.

Regards,

Kathleen

On Fri, Oct 3, 2008 at 3:33 PM, Combs, Richard
<richard -dot- combs -at- polycom -dot- com> wrote:
> In response to Ronald Schwartz, Kevin McLauchlan wrote:
>
>> I would pre-pend an article if I'm using the product name as an
>> adjective - 'the CCU something-or-other'.  When referring to it by
>> itself, as your management appears to prefer, no article.
>>
>> BUT... our style mandates that we use our trademarked names as
>> adjectives whenever practical, as an aid to preserving those
> trademarks,
>> so I end up using "... the Luna HSM" the majority of the time, where
> HSM
>> is hardware security module, and Luna is our product line... of HSMs.
>>
>> All of that to say, YMMV.
>
> The trademark issue is an important point, and I'd state it more
> strongly than Kevin. If CCU and/or CosmoCall Universe are trademarked,
> regularly using them as nouns is being negligent with a valuable company
> asset.
>
> Does your company have a legal dept. or attorney on retainer? Is there
> someone in marketing who's responsible for or cares about the corporate
> brand, public image, etc?
>
> Our marketing dept. publishes a document setting forth the rules for
> using corporate trademarks, logos, etc. Trademarks are always supposed
> to be used as adjectives.
>
> I'm sure we slip up occasionally. But from a legal standpoint, slipups
> are OK -- consistent misuse is not.
>
> For each trademarked product name, there are one or more nouns approved
> for use with it: ABC system, DEF application, GHI server, etc.
>
> "Something-or-other" doesn't seem to be listed. :-)
>
> Richard
>
>
> Richard G. Combs
> Senior Technical Writer
> Polycom, Inc.
> richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
> 303-223-5111
> ------
> rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom



-- 
Kathleen MacDowell
www.writefortheuser.com
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