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Subject:Re: Trade Mark Notices From:Jim Grey <jwg -at- ACD4 -dot- ACD -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 20 Jan 1994 08:28:30 -0500
Sue Gallagher sez:
Does anyone know where I can find the legal requirements for
referencing registered and trademarked products in technical
(software) manuals?
I've always thought it was enough to reference products on
the copyright page of a book (e.g., Widget Wonder is a
registered trademark of...), and that doing this would
eliminate the need to put those pesky little r's and tm's on
the first reference of the product in text. My editors
agree that this would make for cleaner books but hesitate to
change (i.e., eliminate tm-ing first mention) without
documentation that it's legal.
Sue, I have a nifty brochure from the United States Trademark Association
called "A Guide to the Care of Trademarks" which tells trademark handling
requirements. If you'd like a copy, email me an address or fax number and
I'll send it to you. I'm at jwg -at- acd4 -dot- acd -dot- com -dot-
Ultimately, check with the corporate legal arm. We checked with trademark
lawyers and now follow their recommendations.
We do (R) or TM first instances. We list our trademarks on the TMs page,
and cover everyone elses' with a blanket "Other trademarks are used for
identification only and are property of their respective owners."
Cultural side trip. Our company has a nasty habit of trademarking terms
that we turn around and use like they were nouns. For example,
BlargleFlarber(tm) graphic entities might be a trademark. But then
people here, from the President on down, say things like "Lookit all 'em
BlargleFlarbers on the screen there!" AAAAAACK. It also hamstrings our
manuals to constantly have to write "BlargleFlarber graphic entity".
Yuck.
jim grey |beebeebumbleandthestingersmottthehooplerachelsingerslonnie
jwg -at- acd4 -dot- acd -dot- com |mackandtwangandeddiehere'smyringwe'regoingsteadytakeiteasy
Terre Haute, IN -- The Silicon Cornfield
