Always use a trademark as an adjective, followed by the appropriate noun descriptor(s)
Trademarks are adjectives that describe a specific person, place or thing. Using a trademark as an adjective avoids using the trademark in a generic sense.

Because a trademark is an adjective, always use it to modify a noun. Exceptions to this rule may occur in cases where space is very limited. In such cases, the noun may be omitted (for example, in the column heading of a table, in a drop-down menu, in a sidebar or in a heading or title). In such cases, however, the noun should be close to the trademark, or it should appear in the next text reference.

In general, a sentence should make sense with or without the trademark.

For a list of appropriate nouns, see our Trademark and Nouns List.

Examples:

Incorrect:
SMARTer Kids is a Grant for SMART Products to assist educators in purchasing technology products for their classrooms.

Correct:
The SMARTer Kids Grant for SMART Products assists educators in purchasing technology products for their classrooms.
 

Never alter the Foundation’s trademarks
Use the exact form of the Foundation’s trademarks. Do not change the form of the mark. Some marks use a design in a word, or words, with a particular arrangement of lowercase and uppercase letters, or a particular font or font style. Always use only the particular design of lowercase and uppercase letters, font or font style of the mark.

Other guidelines surrounding the prohibition on varying the Foundation’s trademarks include:
	Do not use any Foundation trademark as a verb.
	Do not abbreviate or use a shorthand version of any Foundation trademark.
	Do not add prefixes or suffixes, numbers or symbols as part of any Foundation trademark.

Never use the Foundation’s trademarks in possessive or plural form

Examples:

Incorrect:
One of the SMARTer Biz Kids’ goals is to help schools gain technology through partnerships in their community.

Correct:
One of the goals of the SMARTer Biz Kids program is to help schools gain technology through partnerships in their community.

Always use the proper ™ symbol
The ™ symbol must be used with all of the Foundation’s unregistered trademarks. The first occurrence of a Foundation trademark in the body of any text must be followed by the ™ symbol.

If the formatted ™ symbol is not available to you, simply use parentheses to denote the trademark designation, (TM). Do not include a space before the trademark symbol or use italics for the trademark symbol, regardless of the format of text that precedes it.

A paragraph heading is considered part of the body of any text. In the body of any text, and only after the first occurrence of a Foundation trademark, may the trademark symbol be omitted. These are minimum requirements for the use of the trademark symbol with Foundation trademarks. The trademark symbol may be used more often.

Examples:

Incorrect:
SMARTer Biz Kids allows a school to transfer its SMARTer Kids Grant to individuals or schools willing to assist in purchasing SMART products for that school.

Correct:
The SMARTer Biz Kids™ program allows a school to transfer its SMARTer Kids™ Grant to individuals or schools willing to assist in purchasing SMART products for that school.
 

Always give proper trademark attribution
Proper attribution must be given to the trademark symbols. Because registration of a trademark is specific to a particular jurisdiction, proper reference to the jurisdiction in which registration has been obtained is important. Attribution should correspond to order mentioned in the text, with attribution of registered trademarks appearing first.

Examples:

Incorrect:
SMARTer Kids and SMARTer Biz Kids are registered trademarks of the Foundation.

Correct:
SMARTer Kids and SMARTer Biz Kids are trademarks of the SMARTer Kids Foundation of Canada.

Correct (with copyright block):
© 2002 SMARTer Kids Foundation of Canada. All rights reserved. SMARTer Kids and SMARTer Biz Kids are trademarks of the SMARTer Kids Foundation of Canada.

Respect third-party trademarks
The Foundation respects third-party trademarks. If you use another company's trademarks, you must use the appropriate trademark symbol within the text (first occurrence). When third-party trademarks are mentioned and there are no specific trademark attribution guidelines in effect, always use a generic third-party trademark attribution. The Web site maintained by the third-party is a good place to look for its trademark guidelines. You need only mark the third-party trademark if you have information that it is, in fact, a trademark.

Examples:

Correct:
NEC and “Empowered by Innovation” are trademarks of NEC Corporation.

Correct:
SMART Ideas and SynchronEyes are registered trademarks of SMART Technologies ULC in Canada and the U.S. SMART Board, SMART Ideas, SynchronEyes and Expression are trademarks of SMART Technologies ULC.