Re: Referencing Trademarks

[Tim Merrick <TimM -at- ILE -dot- COM>]

John Wolf wrote:

> When referencing trademarked products with the "TM" superscript, must
> one include the "TM" at every occurence of the product name in a
> document? Or, is it acceptable to apply the "TM" to only the first
> occurence? I'm writing product training modules that require the
> product name throughout, but it seems distracting and redundant to
> repeat the trademark symbol. Can anyone cite a reference that helps
> with this?
>
> Thanks.
>
> - John
>
John:

You might consider putting a copyright page in the front of your
training materials. Along with copyrighting your own work, you can
identify all of the trademarks referred to in the text. Here is an
example from a manual I am writing for a major computer vendor:

"Microsoft, MS Windows, Windows, and Windows NT are U.S. registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation."

Using this type of approach allows you to cover all of your legal bases
in one place and to avoid the distraction of trademark symbols in your
text.

Best regards,

Tim Merrick
Senior Technical Writer
ILE Communications Group
timm -at- ile -dot- com
http://www.ile.com

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