DocBook 5: The Definitive Guide

Name

productname — The formal name of a product

Synopsis

productname ::= (text | phrase ^db._phrase | replaceable | Graphic inlines | Indexing inlines | Linking inlines | Ubiquitous inlines)*

Attribute synopsis

Common attributes and common linking attributes.

Additional attributes:

• class (enumeration) = “copyright” | “registered” | “service” | “trade”

Description

A productname is the formal name of any product. Identifying a product this way may be useful if you need to provide explicit disclaimers about product names or information.

For example, the copyright statement in most books includes a notice similar to this:

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and O’Reilly Media, Inc. was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps.

If every product name were coded as a productname, you could automatically generate a complete list of all the product names and mention them explicitly in the notice.

In running prose, the distinction between an application and a productname may be very subjective.

Processing expectations

Formatted inline.

Two of the values of the class attribute on productname, Trade and Registered, make assertions about trademarks. DocBook also has a trademark element; presumably the same markup is intended regardless of which one is used.

The service and copyright values should also generate the anticipated marks, if appropriate ...