Guidelines concerning the use of "URANTIA"

While only the licensed URANTIA organizations are entitled to use the word "URANTIA"-- as a service mark and/or a trademark--it is fairly common and totally proper to make written mention of the registered mark "URANTIA" or the trade names URANTIA Foundation or URANTIA Brotherhood, for example, in mentioning the title of the Book or the names of the organizations. This is often done in newsletters, written speeches, programs, and so forth. We are distinguishing here between two kinds of use:

• Use of the mark as an identifier (of a service or a product originating from URANTIA Foundation or one of its licensed users, such as URANTIA Brotherhood) by displaying it alone in a prominent way on the cover of a publication or the like--which is not allowed, without prior permission of the Trustees.
• Simply referring to the registered mark "URANTIA" in an informative text of one kind or another--which is allowed.  It is also proper to use the word with an initial capital and the rest in lower case letters--namely "Urantia"--when referring to the name of the planet--so long as such usage is not likely to be confused with a registered mark usage.

It is in the best interest of URANTIA Foundation and its licensees, URANTIA Brotherhood, the various URANTIA Societies, and URANTIA Brotherhood Corporation (all of which are collectively referred to as the official URANTIA organizations) that the word be shown in correct form. We have noted that some, in preparing written materials, are unclear regarding those instances in which the word represents the name of the planet and those wherein it is the registered mark, and whether to use the upper or lower case form in these various instances. The lower case, Urantia, should be used only to refer to the planet and then in such a manner that it cannot reasonably be construed as a registered mark usage. In any other instance, the upper case, URANTIA, should be used. Perhaps the simplest rule to determine whether to write Urantia or URANTIA is that Urantia is always a "noun" referring to the planet. URANTIA is virtually always an "adjective" modifying a noun.

The following shows correct and incorrect usage:

The following are commonly used terms, all of which take the upper case form to denote the trademark or service mark "URANTIA," or a trade name usage of URANTIA in conjunction with another word:

• URANTIA activities
• URANTIA Brotherhood
• URANTIA Service
• First URANTIA Society
• URANTIA publications
• "URANTIA Book" study group (not URANTIA study group)
• the URANTIA Papers
• "The URANTIA Book"
• URANTIA movement
• URANTIA Foundation
• URANTIA organizations