IDEXX Trademark Guidelines

A Valuable Asset

IDEXX Laboratories’ trademarks are among our company’s most valuable assets. They represent the quality, expertise, goodwill and reputation of our company and should be treated with care.

A trademark has two basic functions:

  • To distinguish the product from other products
  • To serve as a symbol of consistent quality

Trademarks must be protected by the owner or they will be lost. Unlike patents and copyrights, which have limited lives, a trademark can be owned indefinitely if properly registered and used. If improperly used, trademarks can be lost forever. Exclusive rights to trademarks can be lost through careless or improper use by the public or the trademark owner.

Famous former brands or trademarks such as aspirin, formica, cellophane, gramophone, and thermos became common or generic words in part because their owners did not use the trademarks in a way that distinguished them from the products, or they permitted others to use them improperly.

Basic Rules

A trademark must always be identified as a trademark. It must be distinguished from the mere generic name of the product.

  1. Make the trademark stand out from its surroundings.
    • Use initial caps for trademarks in running texts.
    • Do not capitalize the generic product name (for example, LaserCyte® analyzer; however, when using the full “formal” name of a product, IDEXX conventions permit capitalization of the descriptor, for example, LaserCyte® Hematology Analyzer).

    It is possible to capitalize the trademark completely (for example, IDEXX-PACS™), or to use quotes, bold or italic typefaces, color or a specially designed logotype (for example, the SNAP assay logo shown at right). However, the format of a logotype does NOT reflect the IDEXX style convention for spelling out the logo in text: SNAP should always be all uppercase in text.

  2. Use the trademark with the full formal name or the generic name for the product it identifies.

    A trademark is an adjective and as such it should be followed by the common descriptive name of the product. Always do this the first time the trademark appears in printed material and also in foremost mentions in the material (see below). It is a good rule of thumb to use a descriptor with a trademark at least 50% of the time in printed material. Do not use the trademark with any term other than its common descriptive name (for example, SNAP® Reader, SNAP® assay, SNAP® FIV/FeLV Combo). Other examples include: IDEXX Cornerstone® practice management software, IDEXX VetLyte® results, IDEXX-PACS™ software.

  3. Always use correct grammar

    Never use a trademark in the plural or possessive form.

  4. If the trademark has been registered, the symbol ® is preferred and should be superscripted. Do not use the ® if the trademark has not been registered. The letters TM may be used after trademarks that have not yet been registered.

    The ® and TM symbols are defined as follows:

    • ® indicates a trademark that has been registered in one or more countries
    • ™ indicates a trademark

    The appropriate notice, either ® or TM, should be used at least once in each piece of printed matter or electronic publication, preferably with the first and foremost appearance of the trademark in a document. On a Web site, because users can jump around, a “document” means each separate page of the Web site.

    First and foremost means that if you have a first appearance earlier in a document or Web site page, which is followed by a large font line or some other appearance that grabs the user’s attention, we should use the trademark indicia in the first appearance, and also in the foremost appearance.

    Web site exception: It is acceptable to not use trademark indicia in the Web site “donut.” However, the symbol must be used (first and foremost mention) on actual Web pages.

    When a family of tests and then specific test brand names are mentioned within that family, the symbol must appear on first mentions of each to protect each brand name. For example:

    Ask about our SNAP® family of ELISA tests:

    • SNAP® Giardia Test
    • SNAP® 4Dx® Test
    • SNAP® Parvo Test

    When a trademark can apply to different classes of products: If you refer to the VetTest® Chemistry Analyzer, for example, and you later refer to VetTest® slides, you would use the trademark indicia in both because the mark covers different classes of goods. This is generally the case with all our instruments and consumables.

    Please follow the above rules on all IDEXX external communications, and also on internal materials (presentations, etc.). Contact the IDEXX Marketing Communications if you have questions about appropriate trademark usage.