Monday, March 12, 2007

Trademarks and bullet-points.

I have two questions today. One may have already been answered in the past, but I couldn't find it.

The first question deals with adding a period at the end of a bullet-point topic. In Test 1 and 2, we were supposed to add a period after the subject of each topic, such as Anthologies or Litblogs. Why do we add a period after the topics? A lot of teachers in various departments always discouraged one-word sentences, or two-word sentences. Wouldn't a colon, or semi-colon be more effective in these cases since the author is trying to describe or define the topic?

My second question deals with trademarks. When do we, as copyeditors, put in the trademark logo when we come across a brand-name that's being used in the manuscript? Do we have to wait for certain copyrights to be handed over, or are we allowed to leave it as it is?

2 comments:

Pat said...

Ryan asked a question like yours; if you sort by his name, you'll find his post.

The Dzanc author was combining a numbered list with run-in heads. As we discussed in class and as is illustrated in chapter 4 of the textbook, run-in heads are followed by periods. (See also the run-in heads in the fifteenth edition of Chicago Manual.)

Re brand names and trademarks, let me quote from sec. 8.612 of CM:

Brand names that are registered trademarks—often so indicated in dictionaries—should be capitalized if they must be used. A better choice is to substitute a generic term when available. Although the symbols [circled R] and [TM in superscript] often accompany trademark names on product packaging and in promotional material, there is no legal requirement to use these symbols, and they should be omitted wherever possible. Note also that some companies want people to use both the proper and the generic terms in reference to their products ("Kleenex facial tissue," not just "Kleenex"), but here again there is no legal requirement. For computer names, see 7.81.…

Registered trademarks may be found on the Web sites of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the International Trademark Association.

Pat said...

Yikes, it's section 8.162 of CM!