User:Masem/Trademarks

Trademarks are a form of intellectual property that allow a company to register a word, a short phrase, or an image, giving it indefinite legal protection for identification of the company or product in specific fields. Within Wikipedia, trademarks are used frequently in discussing the company, its products and branding, and other matters. This policy explains some of the concerns when using trademarks on Wikipedia, particularly in relationship to generic trademarks.

Trademark terms

See also: WP:MOS/TM

In discussing a company, a product, or other branding elements, Wikipedia does not have any restrictions on the use of trademarked words or phrases. It is expected that these terms are being used alongside discussion of the company or product at hand. Specific representation of trademarked terms with unique spelling and capitalization variants are described further in the manual of style for trademarks.

Trademark logos

See also: WP:LOGO

Logos for many companies and products are likely to be trademarked. As with terms and phrases, Wikipedia has no immediate restrictions on the use of such images as long as they are used alongside discussion of the company or product that the trademark represents. However, trademarked logos may also enjoy copyright status, and specific restrictions on their use falls under the non-free content policy. Further details on when such logos may be used can be found there.

Genericized trademarks

See also: List of generic and genericized trademarks

In trademark law, companies are expected to proactively defend their trademarks, or risk losing them. One possible route by which trademarks can be lost is through the adopting of the trademarked term within the common colloquial language, often extending the term to indicate any other similar product or company (such as Aspirin) making it become a generic trademark. This is generally determined through legal cases after the term has entered the common colloquial. List of generic and genericized trademarks provides a subset of frequent generic trademarks (trademarks that have legally lost their status) and trademarks that are often used in the colloquial but retain their legal status. Similar ideas apply to the re-use of a trademark name to a generic action, such as taking the name of Adobe Photoshop into the verb photoshopping to imply the act of photo manipulation by any software program.

Wikipedia editors should take care in using trademarked words to apply to the genericized meaning to avoiding giving the impression that Wikipedia supports or endorses these products. For example

• Avoid: Pipe threads are often wrapped in Teflon tape to create a seal when fastening.
• Use: Pipe threads are often wrapped in PFTE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) tape to create a seal when fastening.

• Avoid: Minor cuts and wounds on the human body can be healed by applying band-aids.
• Use: Minor cuts and wounds on the human body can be healed by applying adhesive bandages.

In some cases, while the trademark term is appropriate to use as the specific company/product is called out, its use as an adjective or a verb can lead to an inappropriate genericizied trademark; rearrangement and replacement can lead to better clarity:

• Avoid: The enemy combatants were wearing Kevlar vests during the battle.
• Use: The enemy combatants were wearing vests made of Kevlar during the battle.

• Avoid: The discrediting image was found to have been photoshopped before publication.
• Use: The discrediting image was found to have been digitially manipulated with Photoshop before publication.

There are at least two exceptions where a trademark term which still has legal protection but otherwise used in a generic fashion should be left alone:

1. When part of a direct quote from a source, or
2. In articles where the genericization of the term is being discussed (such as within the section "Photoshopping" at Photo manipulation).

If the trademark has been legally determined as a generic trademark, then the word may be used freely, but consider if a non-trademark phrase may be more appropriate.