Russian businessman trademarks
A Russian businessman has trademarked an emoticon, the punctuation marks used in text messages, emails and online to convey a wink.
Oleg Teterin, president of the mobile ad company Superfone, now intends to cash in on the typographic wink by charging companies who use it.
He said he intends to send legal warnings to companies using the symbol to make a profit without paying him an annual license - which will cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Legal experts doubt any demands for cash would hold up in court as the colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis has been widely used in the public domain.
Despite being granted the trademark from the federal patent agency it is though most people will continue using the
Teterin argues that because other emoticons such as
It is understood that Scott Fahlman, a professor at the Carnegie Mellon University in the US was the first to use three keystroke 25 years ago.
;-)
A Russian businessman has trademarked an emoticon, the punctuation marks used in text messages, emails and online to convey a wink.Oleg Teterin, president of the mobile ad company Superfone, now intends to cash in on the typographic wink by charging companies who use it.
He said he intends to send legal warnings to companies using the symbol to make a profit without paying him an annual license - which will cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Legal experts doubt any demands for cash would hold up in court as the colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis has been widely used in the public domain.
Despite being granted the trademark from the federal patent agency it is though most people will continue using the
;-)
and stick two fingers up at him ... unless he has trademarked that too.Teterin argues that because other emoticons such as
:-)
or ;)
or :)
are similar they are also under his ownership.It is understood that Scott Fahlman, a professor at the Carnegie Mellon University in the US was the first to use three keystroke 25 years ago.
