Effective Date: March 31 2025

1. Introduction

The House of Stapleton respects the intellectual property rights of others and expect the same in return. The brand names owned by HoS, such as House of Stapleton, HoS and Stapco.com (“HoS Brand Names”), along with all other trademarks, service marks, logos, trade names, trade dress, and other brand assets owned by HoS (collectively with the HoS Brand Names, the “HoS Trademarks”) are valuable assets which HoS has invested significant time and resources to protect. The proper, consistent use of HoS Trademarks helps people easily recognize references to HoS and protects the goodwill they represent.

These Trademark Usage Guidelines (“Guidelines”) ensure proper use of HoS Trademarks by everyone. Unless you already have a written agreement with HoS granting an express license to use HoS Trademarks, these Guidelines will govern your use.

The use of HoS Trademarks without HoS’ express written permission is prohibited, and except for the limited rights to use HoS Brand Names as specifically set forth in these Guidelines, no other rights of any kind are granted hereunder, by implication or otherwise. Any goodwill that may be derived from using an HoS Trademark exclusively inures to the benefit of, and belongs to, HoS.

2. Basic Trademark Rules

In general, a trademark is any word, name, symbol or device (or any combination thereof) that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods or services sold by one party from those sold by others. Trademarks help businesses build a reputation in the market for their products and services, and for consumers, trademarks signal the source of what they're buying, allowing them to make informed choices based on their experiences. You should follow the basic rules for proper trademark use, and all permissible uses of HoS Trademarks under these Guidelines are subject to these basic rules. Various HoS Trademarks are used in the examples below to help illustrate some of the basic trademark rules.

• Trademarks are proper adjectives—not nouns, not verbs—that identify the source of a product or service, and when used correctly, trademarks should be followed by a generic term for the product or service they represent.

  Correct:

  My House of Stapleton research uncovered new family members.

  Incorrect:

  I found more of my family using House of Stapleton.

  What’s wrong with this? The HoS trademark is misused as a noun (the tool used) instead of accurately reflecting its role as a brand to identify the specific service used.

• Trademarks should be capitalized and used in their correct form. You should never shorten, abbreviate, or add or remove spaces within a trademark. The correct form of HoS Trademarks is provided in the List of HoS Trademarks that accompanies these Guidelines.

  Correct:

  The Stapco web site provides additional insights into your family history, providing more than just names and dates.

  Incorrect:

  The stapco web site provides additional insights into your family history, providing more than just names and dates.

  What’s wrong with this? The Stapco trademark was not capitalized properly.

• Trademarks should never be used in possessive form.

  Correct:

  The family records available on the HoS website provide many stories.

  Incorrect:

  HoS’ website has extensive family records available.

  What’s wrong with this? The HoS trademark became possessive. A trademark functions like an adjective to identify the source of a product or service, and trademarks—just like adjectives (like “red” or “big”)—cannot “own” something.

3. Prohibited Uses of HoS Trademarks

3.1 Use of HoS Trademarks Without Written Permission

Other than the limited use rights specifically set forth by these Guidelines, you may not use any of the HoS Trademarks without first obtaining HoS’ written permission.

3.2 Implied Sponsorship, Affiliation, or Endorsement

You may not use any HoS Trademarks to refer to your, or your company’s, products or services or to imply sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement by HoS. It is impermissible to register (or attempt to register) or use a company name, domain name, or social media account, username, page, group, or handle that uses or incorporates any HoS Trademark in a way that is likely to confuse the public as to whether a website, page, or account is affiliated with or sponsored by HoS.

3.3 Trade Dress

You may not copy or imitate any HoS trade dress, the “look and feel,” or other identifiable and unique visual elements of the HoS Trademarks, the HoS website, including the color combinations, graphics, layouts, typefaces, or stylization used therewith.

3.4 Confusing Similarity

You may not adopt any trademarks, logos, or any other features that are confusingly similar to any HoS Trademark, and you may not market any product or service under a name that is confusingly similar to HoS products or services.

3.5 Alterations or Combinations

You may not alter, animate, crop, or distort any HoS Trademark or combine them with other terms or trademarks or incorporate them into a tagline, slogan, or design.

3.6 Disparaging, Unlawful, or Illegal Activity

You must not use HoS Trademarks in any manner that violates any law or regulation. Further, you must not use HoS Trademarks in relation to products or services or on websites that may be considered sexually explicit, vulgar, profane, obscene, or that is religiously or racially offensive, promoting hate towards individuals or groups, or is otherwise objectionable or disparaging of HoS or any HoS Trademark, as determined by HoS in its sole discretion.

4. Permissible Uses of HoS Brand Names

4.1 Referring to HoS' Products or Services

You may use the HoS Brand Names to truthfully and accurately convey information about HoS products and services or to refer to a particular HoS product or service so long as your use does not imply sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement by HoS where none exists. This permissible use does not extend to other HoS Trademarks (e.g., logos, taglines, or designs), which may only be used with an express license from HoS.

4.2 Presentations, Seminars, and Conferences

HoS Brand Names may be used in the titles of presentations, seminars, and conferences that provide in-depth training on HoS products or technology beyond that available from HoS reference materials. Presenters and hosts of such conferences or seminars do not need to obtain further permission from HoS if the use of HoS Brand Names complies with these Guidelines and all of the following requirements:

• The presentation or seminar title and your name or logo are displayed more prominently than the HoS Brand Names on the cover of the presentation or seminar and in all materials related to the presentation, seminar, or conference.
• The HoS Brand Names are not used in the stylized form used by HoS but appear in the same format as surrounding text. No HoS logos, taglines, or designs may be used in any materials related to the conference, presentation, or seminar without express written permission from HoS.
• The presentation, seminar, or conference materials do not copy or imitate any HoS trade dress, the “look and feel,” or other identifiable and unique visual elements of HoS Trademarks, the HoS website, including the color combinations, graphics, layouts, typefaces, or stylization used therewith.
• The HoS Brand Names must be spelled and capitalized exactly as they appear in the List of HoS Trademarks provided with these Guidelines.
• You must include the following attribution statement and conspicuous disclaimer in the materials or website associated with your presentation, conference, or seminar:

  “[Name the HoS Brand Name being used] is a trademark of HoS and its affiliated entities and [title of presentation, seminar, or conference] is not sponsored, affiliated, endorsed, or otherwise associated with or by HoS and its affiliated entities.”

5. Trademark Notice Symbols and Attribution

With the exception of the HoS wordmark, marking HoS Trademarks with a ^® or ^™ symbol is no longer required. These trademark notice symbols should only be used with the HoS wordmark and only when the HoS wordmark is used in reference to the associated goods and services and not to the company name/trade name.

When using any of the HoS Brand Names in published materials, please include an attribution statement within the credit notice section of the materials (e.g. adjacent to the copyright notice at the end of a document, on the copyright page of a book or manual, or on the legal information page of a website). The attribution statement should be in the following format: “[Name the HoS Brand Name being used] is a trademark of HoS and its affiliated entities.”

If it is not feasible to include the attribution statement, you may use a general-purpose attribution statement such as this: “All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.”

6. Questions, Requests, or Reports of Unauthorized Uses

If you have any questions, would like to request permission to use HoS Trademarks, or would like to report improper or unauthorized uses of HoS Trademarks, please contact us at Copyright@stapco.com.

List of HoS Trademarks

(last updated March 31, 2025)

The following is a non-exhaustive list of trademarks owned by HoS. HoS may also have common law rights in trademarks that are not listed below, and the absence of a product or service name or logo from this list does not constitute a waiver of any trademark or other intellectual property rights HoS may have concerning that name or logo.

House of Stapleton Trademark	Drawing (logos only)
House of Stapleton
HoS Logo

Contact trademarks@stapco.com with questions or problems, as appropriate.