It’s time for a review of recent blog posts just in case you’ve missed them. We call this Replay Thursday. Here are posts from Proof That proofreading blog during the past week.
If you find a Grammar Giggle, take a picture and send it to me; if you have words that confuse you, send those; if you have a topic you’d like to see covered, send that; and if you have a burning question, Ask PTB. You can send all of that to me at [email protected] or on the Ask PTB page at proofthatblog.com.
Kandee asks “Hi Kathy, How would you transcribe a company name that has the trademark symbol at the end of the name? Do you include it? Not include it? Thanks!”
Thanks, Kandee, for the question. We have a client that uses the trademark symbol as part of their company name and we include it in the legal documents we prepare for them. We don’t include it in correspondence, but in pleadings and agreements, we do.
The Gregg Reference Manual indicates that holders of trademarks typically use the symbol (™ or ®) after their trademarks in all correspondence, promotional material, and product packaging. In material of a commercial nature that will be publicly distributed, use a raised symbol after each trademark. In other documents, symbols are not necessary. One way to be certain is to look on the company’s website and see how they treat it. I find that that information is typically at the bottom of the first page of the website under “company information” or a similar category.
However, a quick check of the United States Patent and Trademark Office website (uspto.gov) indicates that while you are not required to register a trademark or service mark, only those who do register it can use the “®” mark. Trademarks or service marks that are unregistered use the ™ and ℠ symbols.
In a Forbes article interviewing a trademark attorney, she indicates that use of the symbol is only necessary the first time the trademarked phrase appears in articles, press releases, promotional materials, etc., or with the most prominent placement of the mark. She says it is easy to overuse the mark and that takes away from the visual appeal of documents.
But we all know that legal writing is different. In my opinion, it is important to be consistent with the correct use of words, so I would personally use the symbol in each instance in legal documents. That way someone couldn’t come back later and question the status of the trademark or service mark because it isn’t used consistently.
I think the short answer is to use the symbol if the company uses it—and use it every time—in legal documents.
It’s time for “Confusing Words of the Week” where I take a set of two or three words that get confused and give you definitions and try to give you a memory trick to help you remember when to use which word. If you have words that confuse you, use the Ask PTB tab on the website or send an email to [email protected] and they may appear here soon!
This week’s words are:
Memory tips:
This showed up for me recently. I’m not sure what the attraction would be to make a contraction from “there are” when you are only taking out the “a” and adding the apostrophe. And do people really say “there’re” instead of “there are”?
It’s time for a review of recent blog posts just in case you’ve missed them. We call this Replay Thursday. Here are posts from Proof That proofreading blog and 60 Is The New 60 blog during the past week.
Proofreading is important in every office but has specific importance in law offices. Here are five reasons why:
“The Court notes Plaintiff’s proposed Second Amended Complaint is replete with grammatical errors, including improper punctuation, misspelling of words, incorrect conjugation of verbs, and lack of apostrophes when required for possessive adjectives; sentence fragments; and nonsensical sentences. The proposed Second Amended Complaint is also an eyesore, with its formatting errors and spaces.”
Judge Altonaga did rule that the plaintiff could file a second amended complaint, but plaintiff’s counsel must “certif[y] the pleading has been reviewed and approved by a teacher of the English language — such certification is to be included in the notice of filing the second amended complaint.” If you want the gory details, check out this Above The Law article – https://abovethelaw.com/2018/01/lawyers-pleadings-are-so-bad-that-judge-orders-future-filings-must-be-reviewed-by-english-teacher/
Another judge, U.S. District Court Judge Gregory A. Presnell of the Middle District of Florida, actually went so far as to redline a motion that he found “riddled with unprofessional grammatical and typographical errors that nearly render the entire Motion incomprehensible.” He returned the edited motion to the attorney with an order to “re-read the Local Rules and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in their entirety . . . [and] personally hand deliver a copy of this Order, together with the Court’s [edited motion] to his client.” Those details are at http://apps.americanbar.org/litigation/litigationnews/top_stories/presnell-redlined-motion.html. So not only did he get called out in an order from the judge, but the judge ordered the attorney to give his client a copy of the motion THAT THE COURT EDITED! Do you think the client will want to pay that bill?
I cannot imagine anything more embarrassing to an attorney or more devastating to a firm’s bottom line than these kinds of articles published about specific attorneys and firms.
Proofreading matters.
It’s time for “Confusing Words of the Week” where I take a set of two or three words that get confused and give you definitions and try to give you a memory trick to help you remember when to use which word. If you have words that confuse you, use the Ask PTB tab on the website or send an email to [email protected] and they may appear here soon!
This week’s words are:
Memory tips:
This was in a restaurant ad that I found on their homepage. One more time, you don’t make words plural by adding an apostrophe.
A friend sent this to me. While I understand what they were TRYING to say, the way it is worded says the exact opposite. This is why it is important to review your writing or have someone else do it to make sure you’re saying what you want to say.
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