Use Of Lowercase Trademark Symbol

Trademark owners should understand that there is a proper way of using and displaying the brand name or trademark name. In order to protect the trademark value and maintain a unified image, companies that own the trademark need to stress on consistency while using the trademark both in the word form and in the logotype. Any deviation from this can result in the company losing its identity in the public domain. Hence, it becomes the responsibility of the trademark owners to issue proper guidelines regarding the usage of their trademark name.

Trademark or brand names are registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office. Whenever any trademark gets registered, it is provided with a ® symbol. This symbol has to be placed on the upper right-hand corner of the trade name. It is important to issue a public notice stating the adoption of a particular word, phrase, design or a symbol as trademark. If the trademark name is registered in Canada, one needs to use the symbol “TM” on the upper right-hand corner rather than ®.

Trademark name is an identity of the company. Hence, these names are represented by capital letters or upper case letters that are bold, colored and have larger font size. Some companies use italics or quotation marks while indicating the trademark name on any of the printed materials such as letter, fax, e-mails or memos. Unless there is any specific usage of lower case initials, it is not appropriate to use any lower case letters while writing a trademark name. Trademark names should be used as an adjective and should never be used in a plural form.