TM vs ® Symbol: When a Fashion Brand Can Use Each (and How to Type Them)

A small superscript letter next to a brand name carries real legal weight, and mixing up which one to use is one of the most common mistakes a new fashion label makes. The two symbols look interchangeable at a glance. Legally, they answer completely different questions, and using the wrong one at the wrong stage can cost a brand real money later, whether that means a lost defense in an infringement suit or a false marking claim nobody saw coming.

What TM Actually Means

The ™ symbol signals that a brand is claiming trademark rights in a name, logo, or slogan, regardless of whether that mark has ever been registered anywhere. Any business can attach ™ to a mark the moment it starts using that mark in commerce, since the symbol simply puts the public on notice that someone considers the mark theirs under common law. A fashion label selling its first collection can and should use ™ from day one, well before any application reaches the USPTO. Services get a parallel symbol, ℠, which works the same way for a brand offering styling, tailoring, or personal shopping rather than physical goods.

What ® Actually Means, and Why Using It Early Is a Real Problem

The ® symbol means something entirely different: the mark next to it holds an active federal registration with the USPTO. Filing an application does not earn the right to use ®. Neither does a pending examination, an office action response, or even a published mark sitting in its opposition window. Only a registration certificate that has actually issued unlocks the symbol, and using ® before that point is a violation of the Lanham Act, treated as a form of false advertising or unfair competition under Section 43(a). The risk runs deeper than a technicality. A brand caught using ® on an unregistered mark can see that misuse raised against it later, either as evidence of bad faith in a future registration attempt or as a defense an infringer raises in court, arguing the brand’s own false marking undermines its claim to the mark in the first place.

Forgetting to Switch to ® Has Its Own Cost

The mistake runs in both directions. Once a registration actually issues, a brand that keeps using ™ out of habit is not breaking any law, but it is leaving a real benefit on the table. Under 15 U.S.C. Section 1111, a registered trademark owner who fails to display ® cannot recover monetary damages or an infringer’s profits in an infringement lawsuit, unless the owner can separately prove the infringer had actual knowledge of the registration. Every month a registered mark appears without ® attached is a month spent building a defense for whoever eventually decides to copy it.

TM and Copyright Protect Completely Different Things

Confusing ™ with a copyright claim is common, but the two symbols protect entirely separate rights. A trademark identifies who made a product, while copyright protects an original creative work like a print or an illustration. FLJ’s own coverage of where copyright protection actually applies in clothing covers this exact line, since a garment’s cut generally falls outside copyright entirely while the print on its fabric can qualify on its own terms. Neither the ™ nor the ® symbol has anything to do with a © claim, and using one in place of the other signals the wrong kind of protection to anyone reading the label.

How to Actually Type Each Symbol

On Windows, holding Alt and typing 0153 on a numeric keypad produces ™, while Alt and 0174 produces ®. Mac users get the same result faster: Option and 2 for ™, Option and R for ®. In Microsoft Word, typing ™ or (r) triggers AutoCorrect automatically, or typing 2122 followed by Alt+X converts to ™ manually, with 00AE and Alt+X producing ® the same way. Web developers can use the HTML entities ™ and ® directly in source code without pasting the character itself. On an iPhone, typing “tm” followed by a space converts automatically, and typing “(r)” does the same for the registered symbol. Anyone without a numeric keypad can still reach both symbols through Windows Character Map or the Mac Character Viewer, accessible through Control, Command and Space together.

Match the Symbol to the Actual Legal Status

The safest rule is also the simplest one: use ™ for anything not yet registered, no matter how confident a brand feels about eventual approval, and switch to ® only on the exact day a registration certificate issues, not the day the application was filed. Getting this backwards costs more than it looks like it should, either through a false marking claim nobody saw coming or through damages quietly lost because the right symbol never made it onto the label.