Wikipedia:Manual of Style (trademarks)
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General rules
- Capitalize trademarks, as with proper names
- Avoid use of trademarks as a noun except where any other usage would be awkward:
- avoid: Police in Miami confiscated 25 stolen Rolexes.
- instead, use: Police in Miami confiscated 25 stolen Rolex watches.
- Don't use trademarks where a generic term is more appropriate:
- avoid: Rush Limbaugh was allegedly addicted to OxyContin tablets.
- instead, use: Rush Limbaugh was allegedly addicted to oxycodone.
- Follow standard English text formatting and capitalization rules even if the trademark owner encourages special treatment:
- Likewise, avoid using special characters that are not pronounced and are included purely for decoration. In the article about a trademark, it is acceptable to use decorative characters the first time the trademark appears, but thereafter, an alternative that follows the standard rules of punctuation should be used:
- avoid: Macy*s
- instead, use: Macy's
- Trademarks in CamelCase are a judgement call. CamelCase may be used where it reflects general usage and makes the trademark more readable:
- OxyContin or Oxycontin – editor's choice
Trademarks which begin with a lowercase letter
Trademarks which officially begin with a lowercase letter raise several problems because they break the normal capitalization rules of English that trademarks, as proper nouns, are written with initial capital letters, both in the middle of a sentence, like other proper nouns, but also at the beginning of a sentence, like any word. The following guidelines represent a consensus compromise between respecting the preferred treatment of the trademark owner and respecting the rules of standard written English.
- Lowercased trademarks with no internal capitals should always be capitalized:
- avoid: thirtysomething is a television show that may have been sponsored by adidas, but not by craigslist, because it was over before craigslist existed.
- instead, use: Thirtysomething is a television show that may have been sponsored by Adidas, but not by Craigslist, because it was over before Craigslist existed.
- Lowercased trademarks with internal capitals do not need to be capitalized if the second letter is capitalized:
- avoid: EBay is where I bought my Ipod
- instead, use: eBay is where I bought my iPod.
- But, if possible, rephrase to avoid beginning sentences with such trademarks:
- I bought my iPod on eBay.
- Do not use special symbols such as TM and ® unless they are important to the context (for instance to distinguish between generic and brand names for drugs).
The use of graphic logos
Product logos and corporate logos, such as this stylized rendition of the word Dell used by Dell, Inc., can be used once in the infobox or corner of articles about the related product, service, or company:
Many companies claim copyright over their logos, though their use in an encyclopedia article may be considered fair use. Simple logos that consist of mere text may not be eligible for copyright protection. Please tag logo images with Template:Tl.
Don't use the trademark in the text instead of the company name like: Image:Dell logo.svg Inc. makes Image:Dell logo.svg brand computers. Image:Dell logo.svg sells direct to customers at Image:Dell logo.svg.com.zh:Wikipedia:格式手册 (商标)