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Monthly Newsletter: The MVPR Spectrum
MVPR Spectrum: Protecting Your Trademarks
Jun 25 2004
Hello -
Welcome to the MVPR Spectrum, an electronic newsletter published by Mt. Vernon PR & Communications. MVPR Spectrum features topics of interest to PR, marketing, and communications professionals and others in corporate and association management.
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In this issue:
** Protecting Your Trademarks
**Seven Tips for Getting the Best Results from Your Online Clipping Service
Check out the MVPR resources page and click on the links to some of the Web sites we have found helpful. While you are there, you can view our Crisis Communications white paper and sign up for our white paper alert service (http://www.mtvernonpr.com/resources_wp.asp). If there are topics you'd be interested in seeing here, please contact us at info@mtvernonpr.com and give us your suggestions.
Previous issues of MVPR Spectrum are available here: http://www.mtvernonpr.com/newsletter.asp
Best Regards,
Rosanne Desmone
Principal, Mt. Vernon PR & Communications
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MVPR Spectrum
Volume 2, Number 2
May/June 2004
The MVPR Spectrum is published by Mt. Vernon PR & Communications to provide our friends and clients with information on public relations and communications topics that we trust will be useful and/or interesting.
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** PROTECTING YOUR TRADEMARKS
As PR and marketing professionals, we deal with trademark protection – ours and those of other companies - day after day. Many of use have developed our own standards for trademark protection and have had to comply with such standards from other companies. Why do we do this? Trademarks are a significant and expensive aspect of branding, which, no one would argue, is critical to establishing a market presence.
Furthermore, according to the Patent & Trademark Office as well as the legal and marketing professions, unprotected trademarks may eventually lose their status as trademarks and, thereby, their protection under the law. There are plenty of examples of former trademarks that today have become generic product names: aspirin, escalator, cellophane, shredded wheat, harmonica, linoleum, raisin bran, celluloid, dry ice, mimeograph, trampoline, yoyo, and milk of magnesia. In each instance, a business lost its exclusive right to use a valuable trademark.
Trademarks are used chiefly to provide the buying public with a method of identifying the source/provider/manufacturer of specific products bearing the TM, ®, and SM marks. Trademark law prohibits anyone but the owner of a trademark to use it or anything similar enough to cause confusion as to the source of the product. Under the law, trademark protection lasts for 10 years after registration and can be renewed indefinitely as long as the trademark is protected. If a company trademarks a name it wants to protect, it can simply attach the TM symbol without benefit of registration. This action provides sufficient protection to allow a company to legally protect the name.
You assert your rights by using trademarks symbols properly. Use (TM) for an unregistered trademark and either (SM) or (TM) for an unregistered service mark. The symbol, "®," the legend "Registered, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office," and the abbreviation, "Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off.," may ONLY be used on, and in connection with, marks registered with the PTO. The use of the symbol, legend or abbreviation on unregistered marks is a crime, punishable by fines and/or imprisonment.
You more than likely know some of the recommended specifics for protecting your marks, but here is a quick rundown of do’s and don’ts to review:
1) Trademarks should only be used as adjectives, never as nouns or verbs, in order to differentiate your product from the competition. Example: Scott® toilet tissue vs. Waldorf toilet tissue. Also: Kleenex® brand tissues; Corn Flakes® cereal; copying with a Xerox photocopier. This was very difficult for me to adjust to early in my career, but it’s sort of second nature by now. Some companies don’t want to use their trademarked names as adjectives, and that is of course their prerogative.
2) Never use a trademark as a verb. [“I used the Google™ search engine,” NEVER “I googled it.”]
3) Do not use a trademark in the possessive. [The WordPerfect® progam’s formatting capabilities NOT WordPerfect’s formatting capabilities]
4) Do not use a trademark in a hyphenated phrase. [“The software is compatible with the Windows® operating system.” NOT “It is Windows-compatible software.”]
5) Don’t add an “s” to make a trademark plural or remove an “s” to make it singular.
6) Use the word “brand” with your trademark. Example: JELL-O® brand gelatin. This usage further guards against using the mark as a noun.
7) Always capitalize the trademarked word (XEROX or Xerox).
8) Always identify the trademark as being owned by your company. [Centenium® is a registered trademark of SER Solutions Inc.]
9) If a trademark is acknowledged in the heading of an article or press release, it is not necessary to do so in the body of the document. The trademark symbol is only required to appear in the first or most prominent mention of the mark. If parts of the document may be used separately from the rest of the document, then you also should use the symbol in the section that may stand alone.
10) Remember to acknowledge the proper trademarks of other companies you reference. [“All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners” is often used as a catchall to do this, but you also can identify each trademark individually.]
If you want more information on trademark usage, try these sites:
International Trademark Association’s FAQ page:
http://www.inta.org/info/faqsU.html
Using and enforcing trademarks:
http://www.cyberspaceattorney.com/guideview.asp?layer=2&article=165
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** 7 TIPS FOR GETTING THE BEST RESULTS FROM YOUR ONLINE CLIPPING SERVICE
With the advent of electronic media came the electronic clipping service. Some are great and some are not (just like the print clip services, I might add). Here are some tips on how to get the most out of your relationship with them.
• Ask for a list of the publications they clip and compare it against the publications you want clipped. You’ll probably never find one that clips all your pubs, so go with the one that seems to have the greatest number of publications important to you.
• Ask they if they will add other publications you need clipped. They may or may not, but it doesn’t hurt to ask, and you may find a service to accommodate your request.
• Find out how and when you will get the clips. I think via email is best and the sooner and more often the better. I don’t want to wait three months for the results, particularly for an important announcement. Also ask for a sample of the clip report to make sure all the info you want/need is included.
• Find out what their confidentiality policy is. You should be able to ask them to keep client or product names confidential and to not share what you’re tracking with anyone else. Get it in writing.
• Request the names and contact info for a couple of their clients, then call those customers to find out how happy they are with the service.
• Ask how they conduct their searches. How thorough are they? How often do they search each online pub?
• Ask if they have a trial period and a cancellation policy. Don’t be afraid to request a free trial. If you like the service, by all means sign up. But find about their cancellation policy… make sure that you can get out of the agreement. If they fall down on the job after a few months, you don’t want to be stuck paying them and having to find and pay for a more effective service.
[SCOTT and Kleenex are registered trademarks of Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Inc. JELL-O is a registered trademark of Kraft Foods, Inc. Google is a trademark of Google Inc. WordPerfect is a registered trademark of Corel Corporation.]
Mt. Vernon PR & Communications (MVPR) provides a full range of public relations and marketing communications services to companies and associations on the move, in a hurry, and determined to stay on top. We specialize in creating and enhancing your visibility and credibility in the marketplace, using your unique capabilities and expertise as the building blocks. For more information about Mt. Vernon PR & Communications, please visit our web site at www.mtvernonpr.com
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