Russian trademarks ;-)

A RUSSIAN businessman has trademarked the emoticon that means a wink in emails and SMS messages.

Oleg Teterin, president of the mobile ad company Superfone, said he wasn't going to go after individuals who use the glyph. That would be far too silly as they don't have enough cash to make it worth the effort.

However he intends to have a pop at companies, which will be getting a stiff letter from him if they use it.

Outfits that use the symbol will have to buy an annual licence from him, he said. It will not cost that much - just tens of thousands of dollars in used bank notes.

He claims that since the other similar emoticons - :-) or ;) or :) - resemble the one he has trademarked, use of those symbols could also fall under his ownership, so he'll be wanting wedges of cash for using them too.

We should also point out that, in the newspapers of the former communist bloc, the phrase 'Russian businessman' is usually a euphemism for people who die of sudden lead poisoning in their black SUVs.

Alexander Manis, the director of a Russian broadband internet and mobile company, told NTV that the next thing that will likely happen is that some other Russian wise-guy will trademark the 33 letters of the Russian alphabet and then say anyone who uses the Russian alphabet has to send him money.

The chances of Teterin actually keeping the wink trademark in the long term are rather slim. He's not the first Russian to try it, either. Siemens was unsuccessfully sued in 2005 by a Russian man who claimed he held the trademark.

The inventor of the emoticon was Scott Fahlman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the US, who first used the smiley :-) 25 years ago. It has been in the public domain ever since.

If Teterin wanted to claim the trademark in the United States, he would have to enforce it against everyone and not just those who he thinks have cash. Since it is likely that most people would tell him to go forth and multiply, the trademark would fall back into the public domain.

We are thinking of trademarking the name Oleg Teterin and will be sending Sylvie around to collect our several million for his licence to continue using the name. :-) µ

L'Inq
AP