Legal Counsel often means the legal department, and they can be an total pain. They can be wonderful in other ways -- but if you get the right, over-zealous person, you can find yourself removing the use of the word "Kleenex" and "Asprin" or "Coke" from every piece of dialogue you write. Not that I have this problem, given what I've published vis a vis novels, but I've heard of plenty of other people who have. It's not universal, though. Because then you'd be able to predict things.
Actually, though people may scoff, this is an exceedingly important item for a lot of companies out there. Band-Aids, Xerox, Kleenex, Coke, Cuisinart - all are used without regard to trademark in some areas, but the problem is that if a Trademark Name starts to become a generic name (Xerox(tm) becomes xerox, noun and verb), it can cause the destruction of the ability to define your product as the [Xerox, Band-Aid, Coke...] and when another company comes along and calls themselves Zerox and makes the same product, you're out of luck. No one can infringe on your trademark name if it has already been weakened by people making it lowercase generic nouns!
It is a very important part of business to keep your Trademark Name as YOUR Trademark Name. It is a fine line have a famous, popular brand name that is used everywhere and having your Trademark Name taken in vain and making you lose that Trademark right.
Aspirin, I believe, used to actually be a Trademark Name - but through the years it was used to mean anything made of acetylsalicylic acid, not just Bayer's version, and so now we have Bayer Aspirin, as well as a host of others (Acuprin 81, Bufferin, Easprin, Ecotrin, Empirin, Halfprin, Norwich Aspirin, St. Joseph Aspirin, Zorprin - all of which can use "aspirin" on their labels).
The absolute minimum is capitalization. Preferably, a (tm) would be there. If you want to talk about a bandage someone puts on their child's boo boo in your story, don't call it a "band aid" - call it a Band Aid or an adhesive bandage, or even make up a "homemade" name: "boo boo blanket" or something. Infringing on trademark can get authors and publishers in horrible trouble if the Trademark holder gets upset. I don't want SC Johnson after me!
(OK, delurking to air concerns about something that was hammered home in multiple courses through the years of my higher education. It does make a lot of sense if you know the history of legal trademarks.)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2004-09-24 01:43 pm (UTC)Actually, though people may scoff, this is an exceedingly important item for a lot of companies out there. Band-Aids, Xerox, Kleenex, Coke, Cuisinart - all are used without regard to trademark in some areas, but the problem is that if a Trademark Name starts to become a generic name (Xerox(tm) becomes xerox, noun and verb), it can cause the destruction of the ability to define your product as the [Xerox, Band-Aid, Coke...] and when another company comes along and calls themselves Zerox and makes the same product, you're out of luck. No one can infringe on your trademark name if it has already been weakened by people making it lowercase generic nouns!
It is a very important part of business to keep your Trademark Name as YOUR Trademark Name. It is a fine line have a famous, popular brand name that is used everywhere and having your Trademark Name taken in vain and making you lose that Trademark right.
Aspirin, I believe, used to actually be a Trademark Name - but through the years it was used to mean anything made of acetylsalicylic acid, not just Bayer's version, and so now we have Bayer Aspirin, as well as a host of others (Acuprin 81, Bufferin, Easprin, Ecotrin, Empirin, Halfprin, Norwich Aspirin, St. Joseph Aspirin, Zorprin - all of which can use "aspirin" on their labels).
The absolute minimum is capitalization. Preferably, a (tm) would be there. If you want to talk about a bandage someone puts on their child's boo boo in your story, don't call it a "band aid" - call it a Band Aid or an adhesive bandage, or even make up a "homemade" name: "boo boo blanket" or something. Infringing on trademark can get authors and publishers in horrible trouble if the Trademark holder gets upset. I don't want SC Johnson after me!
(OK, delurking to air concerns about something that was hammered home in multiple courses through the years of my higher education. It does make a lot of sense if you know the history of legal trademarks.)