The trademark symbol is a symbol to indicate that the preceding mark is a trademark, specifically an unregistered trademark. It complements the registered trademark symbol which is reserved for trademarks registered with an appropriate government agency.
In Canada, an equivalent symbol, (U+1F16A) is used in Quebec. Canada also has an Official mark symbol, , to indicate that a name or design used by Canadian public authorities is protected. Some German publications, especially dictionaries, also use a grapheme, (U+1F12E), which is informative and independent of the actual protection status of the name.
Use
Use of the trademark symbol indicates an assertion that a word, image, or other sign is a trademark; it does not indicate registration or impart enhanced protections. Registered trademarks are indicated using the registered trademark symbol, , and in some jurisdictions it is unlawful or illegal to use the registered trademark symbol with a mark that has not been registered.
The service mark symbol, , is used to indicate the assertion of a service mark (a trademark for the provision of services). The service mark symbol is less commonly used than the trademark sign, especially outside the United States.
Keyboard entry
Windows: (on the numeric keypad) US international keyboard setting: macOS: (or or or on certain layouts) Linux (and similar): ChromeOS (and Linux): UK Extended keyboard: . (AltGr and *) HTML: or LaTeX:
Non-standard substitutions
The letters and are sometimes seen paired in an attempt to emulate the trademark symbol. Methods include , the letters in normal form, enclosed in parentheses , the letters written in small caps, on the baseline , the letters written as superscripts, as in mathematical exponentiation , using symbols from the Phonetic Extensions block in Unicode