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How necessary do you consider it to acknowledge each trademark which appears
in your publications? What legal and ethical issues do you see on this
question? I have seen many different approaches:
- Careful marking of each occurrence of each trademark: "...a Widget(r)
printer. Widget(r) is a registered trademark of Widget & Assoc."
- No acknowledgment at all: "Ask your local computer dealer for a Widget
printer or compatible."
- A broadly general fine-print sentence or two on the copyright page: "All
XYZ products are trademarks of XYZ Co [i.e. the company producing the
document]. Other brands and product names are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective holders."
- Marking only the "first" occurrence of each trademark, even in
publications like reference books and on-line hypertext which are hardly
ever read sequentially
- Identifying only some trademarks, in the text or on the copyright page -
usually those which either receive a lot of attention in the text or are
particularly well-known in the general marketplace
