So there are all these different letters floating around company names and brand names- what do they mean? What’s the difference? Which do you use when?
First, they are all forms of trademarks. Trademarks- also known as brands- are important for 4 main reasons.
- They identify a product and that product’s source
- Guarantee that the quality of the product is up to the source’s standards
- Marketing and advertising
- Creates an image of the products/ services in the consumer’s mind
TM
A trademark is a mark used to indicate a product’s source. In other words it identifies the company/person that made that particular product. This is used to distinguish the products of one company from another- think about the big airlines.
American Airlines ™ is trademarked using the ™- that means anything that says American Airlines ™ can be trusted to operate on behalf of American Airlines and can be held to all the expectations and promises of that company.
We know if we buy a plane ticket from a website that says American Airlines ™ if we want to check a bag, the first will cost $25, the seats will be tiny and uncomfortable and we will be charged for every little thing possible – except water. But we can also be sure that the ticket will get us a seat on a plane that will get us to our location safely and as close to punctually as is possible.
The TM at the end of the name means American Airlines has claimed that name as its property, that while it is not federally registered property it is letting everybody know that American Airlines has claimed common law rights to stop others from using that name. The TM is used when the name is not federally registered. There can be any number of reasons why a company doesn’t federally register the name including:
- The Name is not registerable
- The name is pending for registration
- The company chose not to register the name
TM can be used the minute you begin using the name in commerce- as soon as your business uses that name- either for itself or its products. Putting the TM after the name is letting the world know that you intend to enforce your rights in that name and is used to deter others from trying to use it.
SM
A service mark is essentially the same thing as a trademark only it represents services instead of products. It does the same thing- identifies the source of a service and communicates that source’s reputation and responsibility for it. So when you hire a roofing company or a hairdresser or a lawyer you can rely on the reputation of that business to provide quality service, and if the service isn’t quality it will be up to the company to address the issue or suffer the reputational harm.
®
Is a special designation for Trademarks and Servicemarks that comes from being successfully registered with the Federal Government. You get to use TM or SM just by doing business and using the advertised goods/services in commerce but you are NOT allowed to use ® until you have finished the registration process with the US trademark office and have been granted the right to use it.
If you use it falsely or prematurely you can be penalized.
Again, look at the airlines. Southwest ® is always followed by the R in the circle. That means they have received federal registration for that name in connection with Airline services and now the entire country is on notice that that name used for those services, belongs to Southwest.
You know if you are flying on a plane marked Southwest® then there’s a good chance either the captain thinks he is a comedian or the crew moonlights as Broadway singers…
Federal Registration comes with a whole host of other benefits above and beyond letting the public know the name is taken, however that’s the subject for another post.
© 2016 Kimberly Sahu, All Rights Reserved.
Kimberly Sahu is an Intellectual Property and Entrepreneur Law attorney in St. Louis Missouri. She is a Partner at Patent Law Partners, LC and founder of Venture Lawyer- an online legal education resource.
