Usage guidelines (best practices) for TM and R for designers, marketers, brand strategists

An excerpt from the research we have published in our articles section The effect of the ® symbol on a company's logo and how it influences trust, prestige and the commercial performance of a brand.

This piece, which we quote here, is important as guidance for entrepreneurs, art designers and marketers.

**1 Use the ® symbol only when you have actually registered the mark. It sounds obvious, but it is the #1 rule: Do not be tempted to add ® "because it looks official" if your application has not yet been approved. It is illegal and can bring anything from negative publicity to fines in some countries. Until you receive a registration certificate, make do with ™ (in practice this indicates that you consider you have a pending mark). The ™ is acceptable pre-registration and will not harm you legally if you use it honestly (i.e. you have intent or an application). As soon as you receive the official registration, you can change the ™ to ® on any static material you create from then on. If it is digital (e.g. a website), adapt it. If it is print material that has already been printed, it is not the end of the world - just take care of it in the next editions.

**2. Integration into the logo design: Determine from the start how and where the ™/® will appear on the logo. The best placement is considered to be the upper right, next to the last letter or element of the logo. This position is almost standard and consumers look for it there if they search for it. Alternatively (if there is a reason, e.g. a very tall design), you can place it at the lower right. Avoid the left or above the logo - it looks strange and goes against convention. Make sure that the size of the symbol is small enough so as not to draw the eye more than the logo itself, but not so small that it becomes a smudge. Usually, the height of the "®" (including the circle) is about 1/3 to 1/2 of the height of the logo's capital letters. It must be legible to the naked eye at normal usage size, but not shout. It is best if the symbol is the same colour as the logo if possible, or in a neutral grey/black - do not make it a bold colour that stands out. Graphic designers can include it as part of the vector logo file (e.g. in an .EPS) but on a separate layer/group that can be easily turned on/off.

**3. Do not treat the ™/® as part of the "brand name" for the public. That is, when you speak or write content for customers, you do not need to say "the company Acme®" every time. It is enough for the first appearance (e.g. in the title or at the start of a page) to include the symbol. After that, you can simply write Acme. The legal guidelines state that the first or most prominent appearance must have the symbol - this usually covers the obligations. In marketing texts, excessive repetition is tiring. In visual media (video, banner), it is enough for the logo with the ® to appear once at the end or in the corner. It does not need to accompany the name every time it appears in writing - e.g. an advertisement might mention the name both in the image (with ®) and in the slogan (without, because it already appears above). When you create brand guidelines, include this recommendation: "Use the ® symbol only on the first appearance of the name in each separate piece of material." This way, usage will be consistent and you will not fill texts with unnecessary symbols.

**4. Footnotes/legal statements: It is good practice on materials such as packaging, brochures and websites to have a small text "Trademarks: X, Y, Z are trademarks of company So-and-so." This text is usually placed in small font in the footer or in a less prominent spot. It covers cases where it may not have been aesthetically feasible to show the symbol next to the logo. For example, as mentioned earlier, many global brands do not put ® on the logos in advertisements, but they put such a sentence at the end. If you have other marks too (e.g. a registered slogan), you can include them. E.g.: "X brand® and Y™ are trademarks of [Company]. All rights reserved." This not only provides legal protection but also shows professionalism and full compliance. Do not forget to update these notes if something changes (e.g. Y was also registered, so it becomes ®, or other countries were added - many multinationals write "registered in the US and other countries" for brevity). In Greece, we can also write it in Greek: "XX is a registered trademark of company Y." However, since materials often travel, the English phrase is understood internationally.

**5. Do not neglect the general trademark usage rules in your communication. The ® on its own does not work miracles; correct use of the name in language is also needed: Always use the brand name as an adjective, not as a noun or verb. This means, in writing for example, say "the PlayStation® console" not "the PlayStation", "Xerox® products" not "the xeroxes". If your brand is at risk of becoming a verb (e.g. "skype me"), a discreet campaign may be needed, as Xerox did. Train both the public and your internal people to speak correctly. Often erosion starts from within - if your own team never puts the ® in presentations, why would outsiders take it seriously? So, make sure the brand culture embraces the trademark. This concerns brand strategists more: include some key rules in the corporate style guides regarding trademarks: when the symbol is used, how the name is referred to (capitalised, with a brand generic term, etc.). This way there will be consistency.

**6. Exception where you do not use symbols - Social Media & PR Headlines: On social media, usernames and hashtags cannot contain ®. So do not even try to add it (e.g. your handle will be @BrandName, not @BrandName® - the latter is not possible). Also in hashtags, if you write #BrandName®, the ® will be ignored. This is OK - it is not needed there. Likewise, in press release headlines that pass to news sites, it is better not to add the ®, because journalists often cut it or it may appear as a strange character in some systems. An analysis of press feeds showed that 80-90% of media outlets remove trademark symbols when they republish a press release. Therefore, do not insist on cramming them everywhere - they may end up as "garbage" (e.g. it sometimes happens in copy-paste that the ® appears as â or ? due to encoding). It is better to add a footnote with an asterisk at the end of the press text that mentions the trademarks as we said. Journalists usually keep this footnote. This is cleaner.

**7. Adaptation by geographical market: If you are a designer or marketer at an international brand, watch out for any particularities: as mentioned earlier, in China the "Registered" indication or ® must be printed, and in Japan "®登録商標" is also customary. In the Arab world you may see the ® placed before the word (due to RTL reading). These logistics are known to the local lawyers - you should work with them to make sure that the packaging, the UI, etc. comply. You may need to produce different versions of the logo for different markets (e.g. with ™ in countries where registration has not been completed). Create a table and organise your files accordingly. Brand managers should maintain a list of the countries where the trademark is registered and since when, so that they can inform the creative department when it can start using the ® in each region.

**8. Do not be afraid not to use the symbol where it genuinely harms the design. If, for example, you have a very small logo on a product where the engraving is tiny (e.g. jewellery), adding the ® can make it unsightly or illegible. The laws (such as China's) grant an exception in such cases - instead of putting it on the product itself, you can put the indication on the tag or the packaging. The aesthetics and functionality of the product should not be sacrificed if there is an alternative way to declare the registration. Example: Luxury watches do not engrave ® on the dial, but it appears in the accompanying documents. If you are a designer creating a logo for a product (e.g. engraved metal), it may be better not to incorporate the ® into the design for the product but only on the packaging. This decision is usually made together with the legal department, but you as a designer can argue that "it does not fit here without causing harm - let's put it elsewhere".

**9. Communicate the value of the trademark internally. Marketers often focus on the brand story, the visuals, and leave the legal matters to the lawyers. However, the Velcro case, etc. shows that a cross-functional approach is needed. Brand strategists should work with lawyers to decide how they will handle the case where the brand name becomes very widespread. Sometimes, a proper campaign (such as "Band-Aid brand") can make the difference without alienating people. Another example: Until recently, Google every so often published articles on its blog of the type "10 Things You Didn't Know - including that Google is a trademark, use it properly" - a friendly way to remind people that "Google®" is a brand. These gentle PR actions are the responsibility of the branding team. The lawyer alone might simply send cease & desist letters to dictionaries. The branding team can find creative ways. So make a plan: if you see that your brand name is beginning to be used generically, think of a small awareness campaign (e.g. blog post, video, social content) to reposition it as a brand.

**10. Finally: Respect the trademarks of others as you would want yours to be respected. This means, in collaborations or conference appearances, when you mention partners or other products, use the ™/® correctly for their names. It shows professionalism and corporate respect. E.g. if you are company A and you issue a press release that mentions "…powered by Microsoft Azure® cloud", you will earn goodwill points from Microsoft. Also, avoid making, in your own texts, the mistakes that you try to prevent others from making with your marks. Do not use others' names generically (e.g. do not say "google it" officially - write "search on Google®"). This attention to detail is reflected in how others will treat you as well.

To summarise the guidelines: Incorporate the ® symbol intelligently, discreetly but in the right places, take care of the aesthetic balance, train both the public and your colleagues in correct use, and adapt case by case (market, communication medium). This symbol is a small but important tool in the brand management arsenal - used correctly, it offers protection and value; used incorrectly or excessively, it can range from indifferent to annoying. The art is to find that "sweet spot" where it fulfils its purpose without diminishing the experience of your audience