Reference

The Trademark Symbol (™) and the Registered Trademark Symbol (®)

Two symbols, two meanings. ™ is a claim: anyone can put it on a name or logo to say "I'm using this as a brand." ® is a fact: it certifies that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a registration. Using ® without a federal registration is illegal.

When to use which

The rules are simple but the consequences of getting them wrong are real.

• ™: anyone, any time, on any word or logo they're using as a trademark. Including the day you came up with the name, including before you've filed anything. It's a notice to the world: "I'm claiming this."
• ®: only after the USPTO has issued a registration certificate. Not when your application is filed. Not when it's been published for opposition. Not when it's been approved by an examiner. Only after the registration number is on file. Using ® on an unregistered mark is a violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1111 and is regularly raised by competitors as a defense in infringement suits.
• ℠: a less-common cousin of ™ for service marks (a mark identifying a service rather than a product). Most attorneys treat ™ as covering both; the distinction is largely vestigial. Use it if you want; nothing breaks if you don't.

How to type ™ and ® on every platform

The legal difference, briefly

Using ™ gives you common-law trademark rights in the geographic area where you actually use the mark, typically where you sell or advertise. Those rights are real but narrow. They don't reach competitors in other regions, they're hard to enforce without a registration certificate, and they expire when you stop using the mark.

Using ® means you have a federal registration: nationwide rights regardless of where you've actually used the mark, a presumption of ownership in court, the ability to record the mark with U.S. Customs to block counterfeit imports, and access to statutory damages in infringement cases. It also requires that you go through USPTO examination, typically 8–14 months from filing to registration if everything goes smoothly, longer if you draw an office action.

Trademark symbol vs copyright symbol (©)

Different legal regime, different symbol. © claims copyright in a creative work: text, images, music, software code. It applies to expression, not branding. A novel is © but its title is ™. A logo can be both: the design is © (creative work) and the brand identity it represents is ™ or ® (trademark). The two systems run in parallel.

"I see other companies using ® without checking. Can I do that?"

Many companies use ® on marks that aren't actually federally registered, either out of confusion or because they believe enforcement is unlikely. It happens. It's still a legal violation, and the practical risk falls on you in two situations:

• You sue a competitor for infringement. They'll point to your improper ® use as an unclean-hands defense. Courts have refused relief on exactly this basis.
• The USPTO issues a refusal. If your application includes a specimen showing the ® symbol but your registration doesn't exist yet, that's a procedural problem the examiner can flag.

The safe rule is the simple one: ™ until you have a registration certificate, ® after.

How to move from ™ to ®

The transition is a USPTO application. The process, simplified:

1. Pick your Nice classes: the categories of goods or services you want to cover. Our class recommender turns a plain-English description into the right class IDs.
2. Check for conflicts: make sure your proposed mark isn't already taken in those classes. Our USPTO trademark search does this against the full 14 million-record register and scores the refusal risk.
3. File the application: directly on USPTO.gov, or with the help of a trademark attorney for high-stakes filings.
4. Respond to any office actions: most applications get at least one. Our filing strategy tool answers specific questions about USPTO procedure.
5. Receive your registration certificate: typically 8–14 months from filing. Switch from ™ to ® that day.

Considering registering a mark? Start with a free USPTO trademark search to see if it's already taken in your class. Free, no signup, results saved for 6 months.

FAQ

Do I need permission to use ™ on my brand?

No. ™ is unilateral. You can apply it to anything you're using as a trademark, with no filing or approval needed.

Where on the mark should ™ or ® appear?

Convention is upper-right of the mark (e.g. "BRAND™") or upper-right of the logo. Lower-right is also acceptable. The position carries no legal weight, but consistency helps establish that you treat the word as a trademark.

Can I use ® on a mark that's registered in another country but not in the U.S.?

Generally no. In the U.S. you may only use ® for marks registered with the USPTO. Some practitioners argue that international registrations under the Madrid Protocol that designate the U.S. confer ® rights once accepted; this is a grey area. Consult an attorney if international registrations matter to you.

Does omitting ® weaken my rights?

It can. To recover monetary damages in an infringement suit, U.S. trademark law requires either actual notice to the infringer or constructive notice via the ® symbol. So while ® is optional, using it consistently after registration is the safer practice.

Is the ™ symbol legally meaningful internationally?

Yes in most jurisdictions, but the underlying rights differ. Some countries (like the U.S., Canada, India) recognize unregistered common-law rights; others (most of Europe, China, Japan) only recognize registered rights. ™ in a no-common-law country is mostly cosmetic.

Last reviewed October 2026. For the broader picture of trademark prosecution, see our glossary and USPTO status code guide.