RE: Use of definite article

Subject: RE: Use of definite article
From: "Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>
To: "McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>, "Ronald Schwarz" <RSchwarz -at- cosmocom -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 14:33:31 -0600

In response to Ronald Schwartz, Kevin McLauchlan wrote:

> I would pre-pend an article if I'm using the product name as an
> adjective - 'the CCU something-or-other'. When referring to it by
> itself, as your management appears to prefer, no article.
>
> BUT... our style mandates that we use our trademarked names as
> adjectives whenever practical, as an aid to preserving those
trademarks,
> so I end up using "... the Luna HSM" the majority of the time, where
HSM
> is hardware security module, and Luna is our product line... of HSMs.
>
> All of that to say, YMMV.

The trademark issue is an important point, and I'd state it more
strongly than Kevin. If CCU and/or CosmoCall Universe are trademarked,
regularly using them as nouns is being negligent with a valuable company
asset.

Does your company have a legal dept. or attorney on retainer? Is there
someone in marketing who's responsible for or cares about the corporate
brand, public image, etc?

Our marketing dept. publishes a document setting forth the rules for
using corporate trademarks, logos, etc. Trademarks are always supposed
to be used as adjectives.

I'm sure we slip up occasionally. But from a legal standpoint, slipups
are OK -- consistent misuse is not.

For each trademarked product name, there are one or more nouns approved
for use with it: ABC system, DEF application, GHI server, etc.

"Something-or-other" doesn't seem to be listed. :-)

Richard


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------






^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ComponentOne Doc-To-Help gives you everything you need to author and
publish quality Help, Web, and print content. Perfect for technical
authors, developers, and policy writers. Download a FREE trial.
http://www.componentone.com/DocToHelp/

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.


Follow-Ups:

References:
Use of definite article: From: Ronald Schwarz
RE: Use of definite article: From: McLauchlan, Kevin

Previous by Author: RE: Mine, mine....ALL mine!
Next by Author: RE: Security (Spam) concern?
Previous by Thread: RE: Use of definite article
Next by Thread: Re: Use of definite article


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads