atw: Trademarks (wasRE: Re: BlackBerry devices?)

In my experience Janice, MOST software companies (that I have worked for
anyway) are VERY slack when it comes to trademark protection and some within
each company look at me like I'm an idiot when I raise the matter and then
start putting TM on their logos and trademark statements in their documents.

The issues you point out are certainly valid and I'll go further in that a
company can spend thousands on trademarks but then, if a competitor started
using the same trademark and the original user took the infringer to court,
the original company would have to PROVE they have done everything to
protect the trademark (TM symbols everywhere, warning letters to infringers,
statements on Web pages etc) or risk losing exclusive use of it.

When I am updating trademark statements and am unclear about a particular
usage or corporate ownership, I go to the company's website and look at the
very bottom of their Web page for a link to 'Legal' et al. to see how that
company wants us to use their information and what they want us to state in
any trademark statement. Not all have it, but most larger companies do.
Where I am unable to obtain the information, I put a generic statement such
as "Other trademarks not shown here are the property of their respective
owners".

There is also plenty of reference material online so I suggest any who are
unclear on this issue spend a couple of hours trawling.

It IS important and we, as technical writers, should be aware of these
issues.

Cheers,

Bruce

-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Janice Gelb
Sent: Wednesday, 18 July 2007 6:39 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: BlackBerry devices? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Howard.Silcock@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> 
> Thank you for explaining this point. I suppose all this must be 
> obvious to the lawyers or whoever make up these rules, but it 
> certainly doesn't make much sense to me. Just how is using a term 
> adjectivally or as a noun going to affect whether other people will then
use it generically?
> 

Here's how it works. Say you are Kimberly-Clark and you make Kleenex
tissues. Your product is so popular that everyone starts buying them and
just refers to them as "Kleenex." Eventually, competitors notice how popular
your product is and they make some too. However, because everyone is used to
referring to tissues as "Kleenex," they refer to all the other brands that
way too. "Get me a box of Kleenex at Cole's" then doesn't necessarily mean
"Get me a box of Kleenex tissues that says Kleenex on the label" but "Get me
a box of tissues."
No one's paying any attention to what's on the label.

Another danger: you ask for a Kleenex and someone hands you a tissue to blow
your nose and doesn't bother pointing out that it's an inferior brand.
The tissue shreds and you think "I'm never buying Kleenex tissues again."

That's why, for example, Coke and Pepsi are very insistent with their
vendors that if someone asks for one or the other, the customer has to be
told what they're getting: "I'm sorry but we only have Pepsi, not Coke."

 >
> In answer to Jonathan's point - about asking RIM - I thought I'd 
> already explained that I tried to do just that and got no response.
> 

I'm surprised. Most companies, especially technology companies, are usually
vigilant about this stuff. Nothing on their web site, either.

> One further question on this. Does this 'rule' mean that, for example, 
> I shouldn't write 'Word allows you to store information in document 
> propeties' (which certainly is the style that Microsoft itself uses in 
> its documentation), but instead write 'The Microsoft Word R word 
> processing software allows you to ...'?
> 

Jonathan's already answered this issue but indeed, if the product name is
trademarked, you should include a noun after it. You could leave it at
"software" or "program," though -- you don't have to be that descriptive :->

-- Janice, who for a while there, had to include the word "printer" after a
printer called "NeWSprinter"
in documentation for just this reason...

***********************************************************
Janice Gelb          | The only connection Sun has with
janice.gelb@xxxxxxx  | this message is the return address
**************************************************
To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to
austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to
austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field.

To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
"unsubscribe" in the Subject field.

To search the austechwriter archives, go to
www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter

To contact the list administrator, send a message to
austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
**************************************************


--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.8/904 - Release Date: 7/16/2007
5:42 PM


**************************************************
To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to 
austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to 
austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field.

To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 
"unsubscribe" in the Subject field.

To search the austechwriter archives, go to 
www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter

To contact the list administrator, send a message to 
austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
**************************************************

Other related posts: