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Actually, after getting to deal with a law suit involving a big bully
company which shall remain nameless (back in '92), I would greatly
suggest you follow ALL dictates from your legal department. We not
only had to send the lawyers a copy of every document we ever sent
out, but we had to send a copy of every draft. And the lawyers went
through it ALL very carefully to determine if we followed trademark
guidelines.
None of the trademark stuff means anything until you are involved in
a lawsuit. Trust me, at that point you would wish you followed the
guidelines. Nice thing to know, we won the suit.
I have seen two schools of thought: 1) trademark the first occurrence
in a title and the first occurrence in the text; and 2) trademark every
occurrence in a title and the first occurrence in the text. Even in
marketing documents I do not trademark every occurrence of the
name. Do remember to use your trademark as an adjective and not
a noun (Kleenex tissue rather than Kleenex alone). You can loose
your trademark by using it as a noun (I don't remember how or why,
but I know you can).
Melonie R. Holliman
Technical Writer
CPD Marketing
Advanced Micro Devices
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Geoff Hart [SMTP:Geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca]
>
> I have a sneaking suspicion--and it's one that I'd love to have
> confirmed--that we've all been laboring under a serious
> misunderstanding of trademark law. It seems perfectly clear
> that in marketing documentation, you really do need to be
> strict about using the trademark correctly, but I strongly doubt
> that this is a requirement _anywhere_ else; for example, a
> quick look at the Microsoft Word manual sitting in front of
> me shows the use of (R) only for Microsoft and only on the
> cover and in the copyrights, and not when it's being used as
> part of the phrase "Microsoft Word". Ditto for Adobe
> PageMaker: both words have (R) on the cover, but nowhere
> in the main text. Finally, I don't recall the last time I saw an
> (R) or (TM) outside an ad in _PC Magazine_ or any of the
> other trade magazines that regularly discuss trademarked
> products. Presumably, this is a clear indication that they know
> something we don't. (Of course, nobody in their right mind
> would try to steal a Microsoft trademark, so perhaps they're
> not the best example... <g>)
>
>
>
