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Intellectual Property & Technology

A Proper Use of Trademark Guideline

A trademark (and a service mark) is a word, a phrase, a symbol or a design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods (and services) of one party from those of others. Trademarks, which include service marks, are extremely valuable asset because they also communicate the goodwill and quality of the product and service. 

If a trademark is not used properly, then that trademark could become generic. An example of a good trademark that became the generic term for its product was "escalator." Another trademark that was on its way to becoming generic was COKE. To prevent its famous COKE mark from becoming the generic term for cola soda pop, the Coca-Cola Company started to police how people, in particular waiters and waitresses, used the COKE mark. Such policing is expensive, and therefore, we offer the following guidelines to trademark owners on how to properly use their trademarks and hopefully avoid Coca-Cola's expensive policing efforts. 

1. The TRADEMARK should only be used in connection with genuine and unaltered brand products or with services which originated, or are licensed, from the trademark owner.
2. No third party has the right to use the TRADEMARK in any form as part of any web site address, or domain name.
3. No third party has the right to use the TRADEMARK in any form as part of any trade name, or business name, or to identify its own or any other party's products or services, where such use is likely to lead to confusion with trademark owner or the trademark owner's goods or services, or to dilute the distinctive quality of the TRADEMARK.
4. No third party has the right to use TRADEMARK in any manner which is likely to confuse the public into thinking it is an "authorized" or "registered" distributor or agent of the trademark owner when it is not so authorized or registered.
5. Any term confusingly similar to the TRADEMARK, should not be used in connection with the sale of trademark owner's goods and services, or in any manner which is likely to lead to confusion with the trademark owner's business or any TRADEMARK brand products or services.
6. The TRADEMARK should always be capitalized or used with initial caps or quotes.
7. Each time the TRADEMARK is used it should be followed by the common name for the product or service to which it refers, as in "HODGSON RUSS legal services".
8. When used in advertisements or other written materials, proper trademark notices approved by the trademark owner should always be used in the appropriate place next to the TRADEMARK (ie., ® for a registered mark, or "tm" or "sm" for trademarks and service marks for which registration is still pending), together with an asterisk, appearing at least once, which identifies the mark as owned by the trademark owner.
9. Trademarks are adjectives, not nouns. Therefore, the TRADEMARK should never be used in the plural or possessive form.