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Re: Font Selection, Name Changes, and Fainting Goats
Subject:Re: Font Selection, Name Changes, and Fainting Goats From:"S Ryan" <sryan -at- sryan -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 24 Apr 2002 12:27:06 -0700
John Posada said:
>Easy solution...make it a policy to never use your company name,
>company product, or trademarked name as an adjective.
>
>Instead of
>> "The CoolThing system enables the accomplishment of miracles,".<
>
>It would be "CoolThing enables the accomplishment....
>
>or
>
>"A system called CoolThing enables the accomplishment...
This presents a legal problem at times. Brand names are adjectives.
For example, the correct usage is: Xerox brand copiers, not a Xerox.
The Xerox company and others with similarly valuable names rightly
defend their names against misuse. They don't want their marked
names to become generic as happened to the names aspirin and
escalator.
This is another case where we tech writers need to check with
product marketing to determine the house style on this, or go directly
to legal to make sure we're doing our part to uphold the intellectual
property of the company. Misusing a company mark in docs is not
only unprofessional and embarassing, but in a worst-case it could
also be used as evidence by someone seeking to challenge the
mark.
I'm not a lawyer, I'm just related to a few, so I have a dim awareness of
these issues. For information on this sort of thing, consult someone
qualified, like a lawyer. Or a fainting goat.
S Ryan
Writer & Editor
"Niente senza gioia"
sryan -at- sryan -dot- com
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