Trademarks® the® Spot®

Some clients are trademark-crazy, insisting every mention of their brand attributes be followed by ™ or ®. Although they may require we follow suit, the rules regarding trademark use do not. In fact, when it comes to readability, trademark-o-mania makes copy appear choppy, difficult to read, and inelegant to the ear. A trademark is any word (Pull-Ups®), name (Gillette®), symbol or device (the Pillsbury® Doughboy), slogan (Just Do It®), product name (Frappuccino®) or package design (Coca-Cola® bottle) that serves to identify and distinguish one product from another. The ™ symbol represents an unregistered trademark and is a notification that there is a public claim as a trademark. The ® tells the public that what is marked is federally registered and protected. Trademarks are adjectives and should be followed by a noun (a Bose® stereo, a Kleenex ® tissue). According to the New York-based International Trademark Association, the ™ or ® symbol need only appear “in the first or most prominent mention of the mark.” Omission of the symbol, however, “does not invalidate or compromise a trademark owner’s rights in a trademark. Its purpose is to alert the public to the ownership of the mark, and it is one of the primary ways to affirmatively protect a mark.” The easiest way to create trademarks is by typing the characters (R), (TM), and (C), which will autocorrect to the proper symbols.

Note: I realize this isn’t a burning issue among writers but trademarks do mar copy and anything that gets in the way is a disservice to clients, who should be counseled to take a Valium® when it comes to trademarking their every mention.

Comments

[Chris]

Recently, I wrote a post about Scrabble and included the TM symbol, because I'd read somewhere how the game's manufacturers insist on the trademark being there whenever their product is mentioned and tend to pursue vigorously any and all cases where the little TM is missing.

How wrong I was. From reading other blogs about Scrabble though, I'm pleased to see I'm not the only one to have been under this misapprehension. The real reason for insistence on trademark symbols is probably to deter content theft and misuse of copyright images. The real bad guys are unlikely to be put off by such things, I suppose.

In retrospect, although it's easy enough to do a Google (TM?) search for these things, I I hadn't fully realised the differences between 'TM' and 'R', so thanks for clearing this up. Funnily enough, having read your post, I probably won't bother using either of those symbols again. Thanks to Word Wise I am now a liberated and truly happy blogger once again.

[Matt B]

It is common to use trademarks as nouns -- especially for pharmaceutical brand names. I'd argue that a blanket classification of trademarks as adjectives is up for debate.

[Dave S.]

So glad to hear I'm not the only one who dislikes being forced to use trademarks. Especially in news releases (although I dislike them just about anywhere).

To me, they're like speedbumps to the reader's eye. They're also pretentious and don't exactly help tone down the "all about me" factor we work so hard to avoid in releases.

[JP]

I think the important thing for PR professionals to keep in mind is that while companies may mandate that trademark symbols be used in their communications targeted to media, there’s generally no legal requirement for journalists or authors to use trademark symbols, and few, if any, do. Although company lawyers may try to frighten journalists and other writers into believing that they can’t use the names of trademarked products without capitalizing every letter, using the ™, ® or SM symbols, or including a generic identifier after trademark names, in most cases a single capital letter fulfills a journalist’s responsibility. So, while there is nothing wrong with using trademark symbols in a news release, it’s unlikely that many professional media outlets would ever include these in their publications or broadcasts.

[james]

I saw your page at http://wordwise.typepad.com/blog/2007/09/trademarks-the-.html and was wondering if you have seen http://www.FreePatentsOnline.com ? This site allows free patent searching, free PDF downloading, free alerts, and other account features such as sharing informaiton between users. I thought the link might be a good resource to add to your site.