11/17/2019 The symbols Trademark ™, Registered ® and Copyright © | iGERENT

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The symbols Trademark ™, Registered ®

and Copyright ©
Submitted by Tirso on Thu, 13/07/2017 - 18:02

Although we are used to seeing these symbols everywhere, we have

noticed that most people are unaware that they have di erent uses
and applications. What’s more, most people don’t even know how to
write them. For this reason, we have created this brief guide on how
to use and write the symbols Trademark™, Registered® and
Copyright©, as well as some additional symbols.

NOTE: The quickest way to write these symbols is simply to copy

them from this page. Bookmark it!

How to write ™, ℠, ® and ©

symbols
Each symbol has a keyword shortcut. To insert them into text, type and hold “Alt” (left of the space
bar) with any of the following numerical sequences: 

Alt + 0153 for trademark symbol tm ™

Alt + 0174 for registered symbol r ®
Alt + 0169 for copyright symbol c ©
 
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For Microsoft O ce, we have two additional options, the simplest one is to type in (tm), (r), or ©
and autocorrect will take care of it. Alternatively we can always obtain these and other symbols
using Insert > Symbols

How do I write the Service Mark Symbol sm℠?

 

There is unfortunately no standard way to write the “service mark” symbol across all platforms.
Although most platforms recognize it, it’s a special character so not all have a quick way of writing
it.

In Microsoft O ce you can obtain using the Insert > Symbols method above.

This will not work for other circumstances, for instance in a browser. The best solution is to copy it
from somewhere. If you are a more advanced user, you could use HTML to insert it in your texts
using the following code: “℠”

What protection do they grant?

 

Now that we know how to type them in, we are going to analyze the protection that each of the
symbols grant. We’ve found that our clients use them indistinctly, but it’s very important to clarify
that some of these don’t provide any protection to the trademark, rather information to potential
infringers.

TM™ Symbol (and SM℠ Symbol)

This symbol is used to let others know that you claim the exclusive use of the trademark.
Generally, this symbol is used for a trademark that has not been yet registered, but want to let
others know that the trademark is in use and you will contest others’ use of it.

However, claiming a trademark for yourself doesn’t mean that it’s protected or that it can even be
protected. This symbol can be used even if an application is rejected by a trademark o ce
(http://www.inta.org/TrademarkBasics/FactSheets/Pages/TrademarkSymbolsFactSheet.aspx).

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11/17/2019 The symbols Trademark ™, Registered ® and Copyright © | iGERENT

In addition to the ™ symbol there's the lesser known and used ℠ symbol, used for trademarks that
protect services of any kind.

All of the information in this article is valid for countries in which protection and ownership of a
trademark is granted to “ rst to use” users. This is not the case in “ rst to le/register” countries,
where these rules don’t apply.

The R Symbol ®
This R symbol is an ownership warning used in many countries to let the public know that a
trademark (products and/or services), is registered and legally protected. This symbol can only be
used in combination with a registered trademark. In some countries, the use of the r ® symbol
with an unregistered trademark can bear legal consequences including fraud accusations.

The C Symbol ©
Used to notify the copyright claim or authorship of non-audio works.

The C © symbol is internationally recognized and is to this day used widely. However, under the
Berne convention this symbol lost its meaning as now protection is granted automatically to the
creators.

Symbol P ℗
This symbol covers audio works, which are not covered by Copyright. The symbol P ℗ comes from
“Phonogram” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_recording_copyright_symbol)

How and where should I place the symbols TM™,

SM℠, R®, C ©, P ℗ in my trademark?
 

There aren’t any speci c rules when it comes to the placement of the di erent symbols. Generally
we nd them in the top right corner of the trademarks or to the right left of the trademark. Both
ways are acceptable.

Recommendations
Some of these symbols are used to indicate a protection granted only after a trademark has
already been registered, therefore we should never include them as part of designs when we
submit a trademark for registration. They should be added only once (and if) the trademark is
e ectively registered.

Should you include them in the application of your trademark, it’s very likely that the trademark
o ce will issue an objection and request that you submit a new copy without any symbols.

We hope this information was useful to you. If you have any questions, please contact us and we
will be happy to help.

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Check out our special o er this month: 50% discounts for a trademark search in Canada
(/trademark/north-america/trademark-registration-canada) and 10% discount for trademark
registration in Australia (/trademark/oceania/trademark-registration-australia) and New Zealand
(/trademark/oceania/trademark-registration-new-zealand). (O er valid until July 31, 2017)

Other articles you may nd of interest:

7 Things you should know about International Trademark Registration (/7-things-you-should-know-

about-international-trademark-registration)
What can be Trademarked? (/what-can-be-trademarked)
How to Avoid Trademark Infringement (/how-avoid-trademark-infringement)
 

Author: Tirso García, Product Manager @ iGERENT (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tirsog)

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Copyright © 2018 iGERENT SM (iGERENT LLC.) All Rights Reserved
iGERENT is an international Intellectual Property company, o ering a wide range of services with a strong focus in trademarks. Our services are currently
available for more than 200 jurisdictions. We assist clients throughout the entire trademark registration process, from a preliminary trademark search,

through the ling of the trademark application with the relevant trademark o ce and its corresponding follow-ups, to the completion of registration and
delivery of trademark certi cates. We also provide defense services in case examiner´s objections or o ce actions are received or third-party oppositions are

presented. Our services also include, but are not limited to, ling opposition actions against third-party con icting trademark applications, as well as any
related service that may be necessary in order to maintain and grow active trademark portfolios, such as trademark renewals, assignments, and change of

owner’s details, Control Border Patrol services and enforcement of trademark rights against infringement, including a worldwide, regional or local trademark
watch service.  In addition to trademark matters, we also o er other IP-related services, such as copyright (/copyright-registration) (author’s rights)

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registration in order to further protect one's literary, artistic or scienti c works, and domain name dispute services.  For further information regarding our
services please contact us (/contact-us) via the contact forms available throughout our webpage. Finally, if you have general questions regarding trademarks,

you may want to visit our FAQ (/frequent-asked-questions-faq) and Blog (/blog) sections which contain useful information. You can also nd out what our
clients say about us (/igerent-reviews-what-our-clients-say-about-us).

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