4 ms·
Seeing all of the (TM)s and (R)s has always annoyed me. When I look at it I always feel an undercurrent that it represents everything stereotypically oppressiv
by kevinh 14y ago
Seeing all of the (TM)s and (R)s has always annoyed me. When I look at it I always feel an undercurrent that it represents everything stereotypically oppressive about a corporation.
Is there some legal reason for placing them up there (requirement to protect the trademark in this way, a CYA, or some other reason), or are they just up there for show?
- dotdapple 14y agoFrom http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/BasicFacts_with_correct_links.pdf http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/BasicFacts_with_corre...: Owning a federal trademark registration provides a number of advantages, including... the ability to use the federal registration symbol. Much like the copyright symbol, unnecessary.
- gavinballard 14y agoIf a trademark is challenged, it's often useful/necessary for a party to be able to show that they've been using the mark as a trademark in the past. Slapping TM all over your branding is one way to unambiguously meet that requirement. That said, in almost all of the cases where a large organisation is using it with a well-known brand, it's more of a CYA than anything else.