Rules on trademark use

​Trademarks are among every company's most valuable assets because they embody the goodwill of the business and distinguish the company's goods and services from those of others in the marketplace.  At the Tetra Pak Group, these range from our company logos and our motto PROTECTS WHAT'S GOOD, to our distinctive packaging shapes, to the many product and service marks that are trusted by consumers and companies throughout the world.  A representative list of our trademarks can be found here.

The Tetra Pak Group has the highest respect for the value and importance of intellectual property rights of others, and we ask the same from others.  If you would like to report misuse or infringement of any of our trademarks or if you believe that your trademark is being misused or infringed on a Tetra Pak website, please let us know by submitting an electronic notice form here.

As a prudent trademark owner, the Tetra Pak Group is doing everything it can to safeguard its trademarks.  An important aspect of protecting these valuable assets and strengthening our identity and brand is making sure that our marks are used consistently and correctly, not just by us, but by our valued customers and partners, the media, and by the public at large.  To aid in that goal, we have prepared these trademark use guidelines; we ask you to review and follow them carefully.​

Permissible Use and "Fair Use"

Generally, outside of "fair use" permitted by law, you may only use Tetra Pak's trademarks with our express written permission, and only subject to the use guidelines provided below and the terms of your trademark license agreement.  To request permission to use any of our trademarks, please contact your Tetra Pak representative or submit an electronic notice form here.

In certain limited circumstances (defined generally as "fair use") you may use our word marks without our prior written permission.  This is limited to your use of our word marks to refer specifically to our products or services identified by those trademarks.  For example, it may be permissible to say that "The Tetra Prisma® Aseptic package comes in a range of shapes and volumes" or that "product X can be used together with the Tetra Pak® separator."

In such references, it is important that you are truthful and do not disparage Tetra Pak or mislead the public. You must also be clear and accurate as to the nature of the relationship between yourself and the Tetra Pak Group.

When referring to Tetra Pak as the name of the company, please follow the below guidelines. 

1. In a formal context or when referring to the company overall, use "the Tetra Pak Group," for example, "The Tetra Pak Group is a multinational food packaging and processing group of companies of Swedish origin." 
   
2. In a less formal context, use the trade name "Tetra Pak," for example, "The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Tetra Pak have initiated a collaborative project…"

Please note that your use of our logos, design marks, or corporate motto can never be considered "fair use," and you should always seek our permission before using these types of our trademarks.  For details on what constitutes permissible "fair use," please consult your legal counsel.​

Proper Use Guidelines

Any use of our trademarks must be accompanied by a notice that clearly indicates that the applicable trademark or trademarks is/are owned by the Tetra Pak Group.  Our trademarks must be properly marked using the symbols ® or ™, as appropriate: ® for registered trademarks and ™ for pending and unregistered trademarks.  This is particularly important when a trademark is used together with a generic word, for example, "aseptic" in "Tetra Brik® Aseptic."  If you are in doubt as to which is the proper marking for a particular trademark, please consult the Tetra Pak Trademarks List​.

Trademarks are proper adjectives, not nouns.  For that reason, you should always use a generic noun that defines the relevant product or service following every Tetra Pak word mark. You should never use our trademarks in the plural or possessive form.​​

Some illustrative examples of correct and incorrect uses are provided below:​​

You should always distinguish the trademark from the surrounding text in some way, for example, by capitalizing the first letter of each word in the mark, by capitalizing, bolding, or italicizing the entire mark, or by using a different typeface or font for the mark than for the generic text.  Please make sure to spell and capitalize each trademark exactly as it appears in the Tetra Pak Trademarks List​.  If using one of our design or logo marks, you should only use Tetra Pak-approved artwork, and refrain from modifying the logo in any way.  In situations where multiple design marks or logos appear together, you should leave ample distance between each trademark.

Finally, when using our marks, please do not:​

• combine, overlap, or "lock up" any of our trademarks with any other wording, trademarks, logos, or designs;
• incorporate our trademarks into your own product name, service name, trademark, logo, or company name;
• use our logos or designs in a phrase or a sentence;
• abbreviate our trademarks;
• adopt or use any trademarks, mottos, logos, designs, or product shapes that are confusingly similar to ours;
• use our trademarks in a manner that suggests a descriptive or generic meaning;
• imitate the distinctive shape of our packages, logos, graphic standard or website design;
• use TETRA PAK or any of our other trademarks as a component of a domain name.​