A trademark is a name or symbol affiliated with a product. It can be the name of the product itself or a symbol identified with the product. Some examples are Coke, Xerox, and Rollerblade.

The process of getting a term trademarked is neither simple nor inexpensive. Filing fees run several hundred dollars. In addition, the United States Patent and Trademark Office recommends that filers use an attorney, which of course adds considerable expense. With that in mind, you can understand why trademark owners jealously guard their intellectual property. Therefore, keep these points in mind:

1. Don’t use trademarks generically.

That is, don’t use a trademarked name when you’re simply trying to identify an item. For example, don’t write “Sam picked up his Coca-Cola and sipped it.” Because Coca-Cola is a trademark, such use would be improper. Instead of using the trademarked name write “soft drink.”

2. Don’t use trademarks as verbs.

Write “Let’s copy these pages before mailing them” rather than using the name Xerox in place of copy. Xerox is a trademark, not a synonym for “copy.”

The reason trademark owners don’t want their trademark used generically or as verbs is that with indiscriminate use over time the trademark can lose its distinctive value. For example, the term aspirin was once a trademark. But so many people used “aspirin” in a general sense as a “pain reliever” that over time aspirin lost its uniqueness and thus lost its trademarked status.

3. Check to see if the term you’re thinking of using is trademarked.

Go to www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/search-trademark-database and click on “Search our trademark database.” Follow the instructions to see if the term is trademarked. Be sure to check the “Live/Dead” column to see if the trademark is currently active.

4. Know when you are permitted to use trademarked terms.

In short, you can use trademarks in these cases:

     For informational purposes (that’s why I can legally use them in this article)

     For parody or commentary

     For comparison

This site contains a more comprehensive explanation of permissible use: www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/when-you-need-permission-use-trademarks.html

In other cases where you use a trademark, you must use the correct symbol with the term. Use tm with trademark, sm with service mark, and ® with a registered trademark. How do you know which of these your term is? When you search the trademark database you’ll see a column called “Word Mark.” Click on the term you’re interested in. There will be a lot of information, including the Type of Mark. That is, whether it’s a trademark, service mark, or registered trademark.

(Here’s how to create the tm, sm, and ® symbols in Microsoft Word: Go to “Insert-Symbol” for the tm and ® symbols. For “sm” type the letters and make them a superscript using the superscript button in the “Font” group.)

Another way to ensure that readers know the term you’re using is a trademark is by using the trademarked term as an adjective, immediately followed by brand (or a similar term) and then a noun identifying the type of product. So the sentence above would read “Sam picked up his Coca-Cola brand soft drink and sipped it.” Obviously, that sounds awkward. So your best bet is to simply refrain from using trademarked names unless you specifically need to identify a company.

In a worst-case scenario, using a trademark may get you a “cease and desist” letter. That’s exactly what it sounds like—a company telling you to stop using their trademarked term. You don’t want that to happen, so think carefully before using a trademark.