Wikivoyage:Trademarks
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This page in a nutshell: It is OK to refer to trademarks, but trademark symbols should not be used. |
A trademarks is a legal instrument that companies and individuals can use to preserve their own or their products' reputations. This guideline discusses the use of trademarks in Wikivoyage.
It's perfectly OK to use a trademark to refer to the object or company. That is, if you're talking about Disneyland, call it Disneyland.
Trademark symbols
Firms and individuals often use the ® (registered trademark), ™ (trademark), or ℠ (service mark) symbols when referring to their own products, names, or services. This notifies the public that the word or image used is a trademark.
However, no one else is required to use the ™ or other symbols. Since typically only trademark owners use these symbols, they usually end up on promotional literature, ads, boxes, etc. Using these symbols on Wikivoyage makes it look like promotional literature, or that we're pandering to the trademark holders. They also clutter up our guides with extra "noise" characters that don't serve any purpose. For these reasons, avoid using the ™, ®, or ℠ symbols.
Trademark disclaimers
Promotional literature also often has trademark notices at the end: Foo and the Foo logo are trademarks of The Foo Company. Again, we are under no obligation to make these statements, so we can safely avoid trademark disclaimers.
Trademark redirects
Where one company has a monopoly or near-monopoly, in rare instances we redirect the trademarked name to the generic article; for instance, Amtrak → Rail travel in the United States.
Trademarks used as generic nouns
Some trademarks are used as generic nouns in daily speech. When describing a generic product (at least when competitors are available), a non-proprietary noun should be preferred; see Wikivoyage:Words to avoid.
A brief list of such trademarks frequently used by travellers:
| Trademarked name | Generic name |
|---|---|
| Airbnb | Hospitality exchange |
| Astroturf | Artificial turf |
| Cashpoint | Cash machine, ATM |
| Jacuzzi | Hot tub |
| Jeep | Terrain vehicle |
| Jet ski | Water scooter |
| Kleenex | Facial tissue |
| Learjet | Business jet |
| Memory stick | Flash memory |
| Rollerblades | Inline skates |
| Segway | Personal transporter |
| Tarmac | Asphalt |
| Uber | Ride hailing services |
| Velcro | Hook-and-loop fastener |
| Vespa | Motor scooter |
| ZIP code | postcode |
See Wikipedia's list of those. See also English language varieties as many are distinctly regional in use.