Use the following rules to create company policies and educate employees to ensure company trademarks are used properly:

• Use proper trademark designation. If the mark is federally registered, you should put others on notice by using the ® designation, e.g. Acme^®, but only when the mark is placed on goods or services listed in the registration. If your mark is unregistered and you are using it as a trademark–i.e. to identify a source of goods or services–then designate the mark with “TM”, e.g. Acme.^TM
• Use mark only as an adjective, never as a noun, and never in the plural or possessive form. Correct: “You should take an Aspirin pain reliever.” Incorrect: “You should take an aspirin.”
• Use appropriate generic term following the mark. “Pain reliever” is the generic term in: “You should take an Aspirin pain reliever.”
• Do not use a mark as a verb. Correct: “I did a Google search on him.” Incorrect: “I Googled him.”
• Do not use trademark designation when word is used as a part of a legal corporate or LLC name. Correct: “CFA Corporation announces a new news program.” Incorrect: “CFA^® Corporation announces a new news program.”
• Use appropriate and consistent capitalization. While no particular capitalization is required, the chosen capitalization should be used consistently. Many marks have the first letter capitalized; however, some use a lack of capitalization as a feature, e.g. “iPhone”.

Following these rules will support strong legal protection over your company’s trademarks and brand.

Read more about trademarks and our trademark services here.