This document outlines the policy of ClearChoice Merchants regarding the use of the ClearChoice Merchants Mark. Any use of any ClearChoice Merchants trademark must be in accordance with this policy. Any use that does not comply with our trademark policy or does not have written authorization from us is not authorized. Any goodwill generated by the use of any ClearChoice Merchants Mark inures to the benefit of ClearChoice Merchants.

ClearChoice Merchants Trademark Policy attempts to balance two competing interests:

ClearChoice Merchants need to ensure that the ClearChoice Merchantse Marks remain reliable indicators of quality, source, and security; and ClearChoice Merchants desire to permit community members, software distributors, and others with whom ClearChoice Merchants works to discuss products and services for credit card processing and merchant services in an accurate manner. Striking a proper balance is a tricky situation that many organizations—in particular those whose products are distributed electronically—wrestle with every day and we’ve attempted to balance it here.

Underlying our trademark policy is the general law of trademarks. Trademarks exist to help consumers identify, and organizations publicize, the source of products. Some organizations make better products than others; over time, consumers begin to associate those organizations (and their trademarks) with quality.

When such organizations permit others to place their trademarks on goods of lesser quality, they find that consumer trust evaporates quickly. That’s the precise situation that ClearChoice Merchants seeks to avoid. People’s trust in our name and products is crucial to us—especially, when it comes to intangible products like software, trust is all consumers have to decide on which product to choose. We also are the caretakers of the trust our community members have placed in us.

We created this Trademark Policy to protect both the public’s and our community’s trust in the ClearChoice Merchants Marks.