That is for a registered trademark. The R with the circle around it. You can add a TM to your name without saying anything to anyone. Just need to have some proof of the date when you started using it. And it is a bit if a regional thing too. Even more regional are service marks SM.
I would try to make sure you are unique and then start adding TM to everything. If you get to a point you want to go national and you think your name is valuable, spend the money of a registered trademark. But keep in mind, there is a chance you will nto get it. From: That One Guy Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2015 6:24 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [AFMUG] trademarking a business name For those of you that have transitioned from a guy on his living room doing some stuff for people on the side to a functional business, was trademarking your company name something that mattered or something you wish you had done. For simple name protection Legalzoom does the registration and gets your logo in the right digital format and whatever other crap for about 450 bucks. Is that worth it for something thats still in a living room? -- All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if you can't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means, do not use a hammer. -- IBM maintenance manual, 1925
