Back to Trademark basics

What are the three trademark symbols?

Written by Jan Buza

Co-founder of Trama

The three trademark symbols are:

™ (Trademark): This symbol typically represents an unregistered trademark. It indicates a claim over a specific mark and can be used freely on goods, packaging, or promotional materials, even before registration.
℠ (Service Mark): This symbol represents an unregistered service mark. It is used primarily in the U.S. and specifically for services rather than physical goods. Like the ™ symbol, it can be used without registration.
® (Registered Trademark): This symbol indicates a trademark officially registered with the relevant authority (e.g., the USPTO in the US). It can only be used after registration is complete and carries full legal protection and exclusive rights.

The ™ and ℠ symbols can be used without registration, while the ® symbol requires it.

Related questions

Liability of parody trademarks: the case of Jack Daniel's vs Bad Spaniels

Satirical adaptations of well-known brands have become a common thing and profitable market for many lesser-known companies. Besides being an effective mean to attract more customers, parody products can also be a good defence against trademark lawsuits, as in many cases, brand owners have limited options to enforce their rights against satirical adaptations.

Meta versus Meta: Facebook faced with multiple lawsuits following their rebrand

Tech-giant formerly known as Facebook announced a rebrand and a change of its name to Meta. Following that, there were many discussions about whether a company as big as Facebook could even end up holding a complete monopoly over such generic word given hundreds of already existing trademarks in the same field of services. The results of these disputes will be decisive for the future of Meta.

How long does it take to register a trademark?

We have looked into the last 1,000 trademarks registered in main intellectual property offices, including USPTO (United States), UKIPO (United Kingdom), EUIPO (European Union), CNIPA (China), CIPO (Canada), ROSPATENT (Russia), IPA (Australia), BOIP (Benelux), IGE-IPI (Switzerland), NIPO (Norway), KIPO (Republic of Korea), and CGPDTM (India), exploring the average time it takes for a trademark to be registered in the selected jurisdictions.