Re: Third-party trademarks

[Helen Hegelheimer <hxh -at- FORMTEK -dot- COM>]

> K Watkins <KWATKINS -at- QUICKPEN -dot- COM) asked about acknowledging trademarks.

We, as writer, can spend considerable time tracking third party trademarks.
As a "cub-editor" years ago, it was one of my primary tasks.  However,
there really are a few misconceptions about trademarks and Registered
trademarks.

*  Effective March 1, 1989, U.S. publishers are officially bound by selected
 portions of the Berne Convention for Protection of Literary and Artistic
 Works, a 1113-year-old international treaty last amended in 1971.  Seventy-
 eight countries are members of the Berne Convention.  This mean that
 works published in the United States after 1978 are protected, even if
 they carried no copyright notice.

*  If a product is a registered trademark, that is, on the Prinicpal Register
 or Supplemental Register then it requires a circle R.  It is advisable
 courtesy to acknowledge the owner of the mark - but not required.

*  Here's a paragraph I use in documents that *has* passed the legal
 departments scrutiny -

   "Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish
    their product are claimed as trademarks.  Where those designations appear
    in this document, and XYZ company was aware of a trademark claim, the
    designations have been printed in intial caps or all caps.  Some trademark
    claims are distinguished by their mark (R)."

Source "Legal Care for Your Software", Nolo Press, ISBN 0-917316-58-4
       "New Copyright Law" by Ellen M. Kozak, Publish! Magazine August 1989


Helen Hegelheimer
Formtek Inc., Palo Alto, CA
hxh -at- formtek -dot- com