The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) is essentially the rulebook for the American book publishing industry. If you’re a self-publishing author, you’ll want an editor who knows this manual inside and out to make sure your work looks just as professional as the big-press competition.
Things like how to handle trademark symbols in the text are just one small part of what CMOS governs.
The Legal and Editorial Stance
1. CMOS’s Editorial Stance (Style)
CMOS advises omitting the ™ and ® symbols based on the philosophy that these symbols clutter the text and are unnecessary in general editorial works such as non-promotional books, journals, or academic papers. The CMOS-preferred styling is to use the name, with initial capitalization, as a proper adjective (followed by a generic noun), even if the company’s marketing uses all caps—for example: Target apparel.
Even for the trademark owner, the editorial preference is to omit the symbols in the body of the text, relying on initial capitalization to signal the term is a proper name and a trademark.
2. Your Legal Stance (Protection)
As the trademark owner, your goal is to provide notice to the public of your claim to your trademark, which is the specific function that the ™ and ® symbols serve. Their use, particularly the ® for a registered mark, helps maintain your legal rights. For most trademark owners, it is considered a best practice to use the symbol at least on the first, most prominent mention of the trademarked term in a written work.
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In traditional publishing, the final decision usually requires a negotiation between the author (or trademark owner) and the publisher, because a traditional publisher following Chicago rules will naturally resist repeating the symbols every time the term appears. The most common and accepted compromise in traditional publishing is to use the trademark symbol only once, on the first and/or most prominent mention of the term in the book. This satisfies the author’s legal need for notice while respecting the publisher’s editorial style by keeping the rest of the running text clean. For self-publishing authors, following this approach shows meticulous attention to detail, resulting in a cleaner, more professional reading experience.
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