TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Use of (TM) and (R) symbols in running text From:Joe Miller <joemiller -at- CANBERRA -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 13 Nov 1997 12:57:37 -0500
Nicole,
>One of the things I do at work is publish a IT newsletter and product
>names are all over it. Does anyone know what writers usually do about
>trademark symbols in running text? My company doesn't have a style
>manual of its own and no one in my department has a preference.
An intellectual property attorney once advised us that TM and R should
be used only for our trademarks and that we should use a reference
to identify the trademark (TM, meaning the trademark applied for)
or registered trademark (R, meaning the trademark has been granted
and registered) by owner's name, as in:
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
The "trademark mandatory", as this reference is called, might be a
footnote or an endnote, depending on the number of them and the
type of document.
We deliberately avoid sprinkling the text with lots of R's and TM's on
the assumption that it's overkill and, even more important, is disruptive
to the reading effort.
