How much would you pay for a ;-)? A Russian businessman has trademarked the emoticon _ or combination of punctuation marks _ used to convey a wink in text messages and e-mail.
Oleg Teterin, president of the mobile ad company Superfone, said Thursday he doesn't plan on tracking down individual users following the decision by the federal patent agency.
"I want to highlight that this is only directed at corporations, companies that are trying to make a profit without the permission of the trademark holder," he said in comments to NTV.
Companies will be sent legal warnings if they use the symbol without his permission, he said.
"Legal use will be possible after buying an annual license from us," he was quoted by Kommersant as saying. "It won't cost that much _ tens of thousands of dollars."
He also said since other similar emoticons _ :-) or ;) or :) _ resemble the one he has trademarked, use of those symbols could also fall under his ownership.
Asshole. ( ! )
Read more here.
Update:
A Russian news agency says patent authorities deny a businessman's claim that he has trademarked a symbol used widely in e-mail, text and instant messages.
Oleg Teterin said Thursday he had gotten a trademark for ;-) a grouping of punctuation marks that denotes a smiling wink when looked at sideways.
He said he expected corporations to pay thousands of dollars for a license to use the symbol.
The Rospatent federal patent agency tells the RIA-Novosti news agency that the symbol was trademarked only as part of the company's brand and has not been trademarked on its own.
Neither Teterin nor patent officials could be reached for comment late Friday.
Too bad, as the world would love to talk to this moron..
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