Reminder: Do not use trademarks in Summary or Description

[Paul W. Frields]

On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 11:42:13AM -0500, Tom spot Callaway wrote:
> On 2009-01-30 at 11:05:44 -0500, Ralf Corsepius <rc040203 at freenet.de> wrote:
> 
> > Then let me ask differently:
> > RH prefers _us_ to refer to Microsoft instead of Microsoft(TM), rsp. to
> > Red Hat instead of Red Hat(TM), rsp. to Fedora instead of Fedora (TM) in
> > documents, packages, etc?
> 
> This guideline only applies to package Summaries and Descriptions.
> 
> However, the answer to your question is yes. Specifically, unless we
> (Fedora/Red Hat) have entered into a license that may require that
> we mark a trademark, we should not do so. We should use the
> trademark properly, all capital letters or at least initial cap,
> plus as an adjective, not a noun, but not designate with any
> symbol. The symbols have legal ramifications, so having it wrong may
> cause more trouble than not doing it at all,
> 
> > This collides with any common practice I've seen so far.
> > 
> > Documents referring to trademarked items typically either use ...
> > "Windows(TM)" or "Windows" accompanied with a footnote disclaimer
> > "Windows is a trademark of Microsoft ...".
> > 
> >> The general rule (as a result of US Supreme Court decisions) is that no
> >> more of the trademark should be used than necessary for the legitimate
> >> purpose, and that confusion should be avoided whenever possible.
> > 
> > OK, I maintain a package originating from SGI(TM) called Inventor(TM)
> > (a trademark of SGI)? What to do about it?
> > 
> > To me, acknowledging their trademarks in Fedora(TM) is fair use.
> 
> If you wish to add "SGI and Inventor are trademarks of SGI" to the
> description, you can do so.
> However, you should drop the (TM)s.

Hi Spot,

Would you say we should treat trademarked terms similarly in Fedora
documentation?  If so, I'll note that in the Style Guide for future
reference.

Paul
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