Trademarks, Service Marks and Registered Marks

What’s the Difference? What’s the Process?

A trademark (^TM) is assigned to a product; a service mark (^SM) is assigned to a service. When a company wants to secure its right to be the sole owner of a term describing its product or service, the company should first find out from the United States Patent and Trademark Office whether the term has already been assigned a trademark or service mark for that specific use. (One term could be registered by different companies for different uses.)

Once the company determines that the term is available, it applies for the mark to become registered with the federal government and, at that time, may begin using the TM or SM on communication pieces.

Once the trademark or service mark becomes registered officially, the original symbol – both the TM and SM – changes to the registered mark (®), also known as the “circle-R,” “R-bug” or “R-ball.”

Registered Independently

Logos, company names, product names and service names are all registered independently. So, it’s possible for the product logo to already be registered – and sporting the ® – when the product name is still only trademarked – showing the TM. The most important thing to understand is that looking at a logo will not tell you whether the company, product or service name gets a TM, SM or ®. You’ll have to get the official word from the respective company.

Registered in All Caps

Company, product and service names are registered with the government in all capital letters, regardless how companies prefer their terms be used. Because many entity names include internal capital letters – e.g., the Apple^® iPod^® – you must verify with the respective company how it prefers its term(s) be written or used.

How to Deal With the Symbols in Copy

To be absolutely correct, you should use the respective symbol on every reference of the registered term. But that can get tedious for the reader, and it can make copy look sloppy. At least three options are available:

If you are writing copy that will be printed on one continuous item, like a printed brochure, you can use the symbol on the first reference only, then put a tagline something like this near the end of your copy: [Product or Service] is a [registered, trade- or service] mark of [owning company].

For example, if the company is XYZ Inc. and its product is called WidgetsForYou^®, then this would be the tagline that company would use: WidgetsForYou is a registered mark of XYZ Inc.
If the pages of what you are producing may be read out of order or not read at all – like on a website or in a presentation – you should include the mark on at least the first reference on each page.
When multiple symbols will be used, for instance in a catalog that’s offering products from many companies, you may eliminate all symbols and include this tagline on every page: All registered marks, trademarks and service marks belong to their respective owners.

Final Word

I’m not a lawyer. The information I’ve included here has been passed to me from various legal departments at major corporations. You should consult your known legal authority before making decisions concerning trademark, service mark and registered mark usage.

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and service marks belong to their respective owners.