Is it mandatory to include the registered trademark symbol ® next to the name of a computer program?
APA, MLA and Chicago style manuals all recommend not to use trademark symbols.
Chicago
In publications that are not advertising or sales materials, all that is necessary is to use the proper spelling and capitalization of the name of the product. A trademark attorney can tell you when the use of the symbol is required.
from The Chicago Manual of Style Online
MLA
Although owners of trademarked names may suggest otherwise, publishers are not obligated to denote the trademark status of a name when that name is mentioned in text. Authors representing trademark owners frequently feel obligated to use the trademark or registered-trademark symbol (™ or ®) after the first mention of their product names but often do not use these symbols consistently to indicate the trademark status of other names not owned by their particular sponsor or employer.
Because the fair and consistent use of these symbols (or of footnotes denoting the trademark owners) requires exhaustive verification and vigilance on the part of the editor and because the use of these symbols (or footnotes) is not required by law, do not add trademark symbols, registered-trademark symbols, or trademark-denoting footnotes to trade names in MLA publications. In the interest of consistency, editors should also delete such references when inserted by authors.
At the same time, MLA recognizes that authors are often supported and encouraged by their institutions or other funders and that this support may be what enables an author to produce any written work at all. MLA editors are therefore advised to consider carefully an author’s express request that trademark status of particular names be denoted (merely including symbols or footnotes in the submitted manuscript does not constitute an “express request”).
If trademark status is denoted in a particular case, these guidelines should be used:
- Use the trademark or registered-trademark symbol, not a footnote. -The author must specify which words should be denoted and with which symbol (™ and ® are not interchangeable). Trade names not specified by the author should not be cited with these symbols.
- Use the symbol no more than four times in one article for each trade name: the first mention in the article’s title, the first mention in the running head, the first mention in the abstract, and the first mention in the article’s text.
- If the article is part of a JMLA symposium, add symbols to the trade names in question in all other articles in the symposium for consistency.
In all cases, whether trademarks are denoted or not, the proper spelling and capitalization of trade names should always be verified and consistent. See Appendix C for a list of trade names common to MLA publications and their proper spelling.
from the MLA Style Manual
APA
No, it's not necessary to include the trademark symbol for a trademarked term in academic writing. The trademark symbol is generally necessary to include only in commercial writing, meaning writing that pertains to commerce or the buying and selling of goods (e.g., advertisements). The word Twitter (and other names of companies) can be written in regular, nonitalic font as well.
from the APA Style blog (answer by the author to a comment)
In certain jurisdictions the trademark owner may be required to use a trademark symbol or may benefit from the use of such symbols in a law suit (see the International Trademark Association fact sheet on Marking Requirements).
For Python, PSF Trademark Usage Policy states:
- Use of the word "Python" in email and informally -- Allowed without the circle-R symbol.
- Use of the word "Python" in academic papers, theses, and books -- Allowed without the circle-R symbol. Books should include the symbol.
I don't know how it is in general. Wikipedia pages on registered trademark symbols mentions that it indicates trademark status, but does not mention that it needs to be used.
In any case, I see software in papers being mentioned without "TM"/"R", though often in emphasis.
I could not find anything on any legal requirements to use trademark symbols if you are not the trademark holder (or are required to use them by a contract). Here, several attorneys state that you do not have to use them even in the “stronger” case that you are reselling the product. Briefly, it’s the trademark owner who is responsible for using it and there is nothing that requires you to use these symbols, unless you have signed a contract to do so:
It is the trademark registrant/manufacturer who is responsible for putting the indication on the product, not you.
Since you are merely resoling [sic] the product, you have no obligation to put any symbol (R or TM) anywhere.
This leaves the question of style, on which I share the opinion of But FUNKY!!!web!!!DUDES.com is their trademark! (written by a professional copy editor), which is mainly on capitalisation and punctuation, but can also be applied to trademark symbols to some extent: One should rather adhere to general spelling and language rules and to what benefits the reader than to what a company wants its product to be called:
The companies and their trademark lawyers want you to duplicate their capitalization. They also want you to use the trademark symbol. They also want you to use the word "brand" and a generic identifier to guard against the loss of their trademarks (journalists eat Big Macs; McDonald's lawyers might want us to eat BIG MAC® brand sandwich products). Are you going to give in to all of those demands? Do you want your stories to look like press releases?
Following this, I would call Mathematica just “Mathematica”, maybe in italics or small-caps in accordance with the journal’s or your own style and accompanied by an appropriate citation. I would not use a copyright symbol as it does not benefit the reader or anybody else¹ – it just diverts from the content of the text and slightly looks like you are paid by the software company to advertise their product. (I also would not use “Wolfram Mathematica“ unless I have to expect that some reader confuses it with something else which is also called “Mathematica”.)
There may be some situations specific to Mathematica, where one has to expect some readers to be confused, as, e.g., they do not directly identify it as a software due to its name being not obviously a name. However, in those cases you can refer to it as “the Mathematica computer algebra system” or provide a citation.
¹ except, perhaps, the marketing people of the software company – who are not going to read your publication