The trademark symbol ™ is a symbol to indicate that the preceding mark is a trademark, specifically an unregistered trademark. It complements the registered trademark symbol ® which is reserved for trademarks registered with an appropriate government agency.[1]
| ™ | |
|---|---|
Trademark symbol | |
| In Unicode | U+2122 ™ TRADE MARK SIGN (HTML ™) |
| Different from | |
| Different from | U+2120 ℠ SERVICE MARK U+00AE ® REGISTERED SIGN |
| Related | |
| See also | U+1F16A 🅪 RAISED MC SIGN U+1F12E 🄮 CIRCLED WZ U+24C2 Ⓜ CIRCLED LATIN CAPITAL LETTER M |
In Canada, an equivalent marque de commerce symbol, (U+1F16A 🅪 RAISED MC SIGN) is used in Quebec.[2] Canada also has an official mark symbol, ⟨Ⓜ⟩, to indicate that a name or design used by Canadian public authorities is protected.[3] Some German publications, especially dictionaries, also use a Warenzeichen grapheme, (U+1F12E 🄮 CIRCLED WZ), which is informative and independent of the actual protection status of the name.[4]
Use
editUse of the trademark symbol indicates an assertion that a word, image, or other sign is a trademark; it does not indicate registration or impart enhanced protections. Registered trademarks are indicated using the registered trademark symbol, ®, and in many jurisdictions it is unlawful or illegal to use the registered trademark symbol with a mark that has not been registered.[5]
The service mark symbol, ℠, is used to indicate the assertion of a service mark (a trademark for the provision of services). The service mark symbol is less commonly used than the trademark sign, especially outside the United States.
In recent years[when?], the trademark symbol has seen use on social media in an ironic fashion, highlighting a concept as if it were important enough to warrant its own trademark, for example, "Official Bisexual Haircut™".[6][7] This is a non-standard usage of the symbol, which confers no special legal rights.
Keyboard entry
edit- ChromeOS: Ctrl+⇧ Shift+U 2122
- UK Extended keyboard: AltGr+⇧ Shift+8. (AltGr and *)
- HTML:
™or™[8] - LaTeX:
\texttrademark - Linux (and similar): Ctrl+⇧ Shift+U 2122 and/or ComposeTM
- macOS: ⌥ Opt+2 (or ⌥ Opt+⇧ Shift+2 or ⌥ Opt+⇧ Shift+D or ⌥ Opt+⇧ Shift+T on certain layouts)
- Windows: Alt+0153 (on the numeric keypad)
Non-standard substitutions
editThe letters ⟨T⟩ and ⟨M⟩ are sometimes seen paired in an attempt to emulate the trademark symbol. Methods include
- (TM), the letters in normal form, enclosed in parentheses
- TM, the letters written in small caps, on the baseline
- TM, the letters written as superscripts, as in mathematical exponentiation
- ᵀᴹ, using symbols from the Phonetic Extensions block in Unicode
See also
edit References
edit- ^ "Protecting Your Trademark" (PDF). USPTO. United States Patent & Trademark Office. August 2019. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 30, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
- ^ Pentzlin, Karl (June 11, 2010). "Proposal to encode two Letterlike Symbols for Canadian legal use in the UCS" (PDF). unicode.org. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
- ^ Pidowich, Mark (July 27, 2011). "Official marks — a uniquely Canadian concept". Smart & Biggar. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
- ^ Pentzlin, Karl (February 27, 2009). "Proposal to encode a German trademark symbol in the UCS" (PDF). unicode.org. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
- ^ "Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure, Sec. 906.02, Improper Use of Registration Symbol". USPTO. United States Patent & Trademark Service. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
- ^ "What Do ™ , ® , and © Mean? Decoding Trademark Symbols". Dictionary.com. March 30, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
- ^ "™️ Trade Mark emoji Meaning". Dictionary.com. May 8, 2018. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
- ^ "Character entity references in HTML 4". w3.org.