:-( Russian businessman tries to trademark emoticon

Russian entrepreneur Oleg Teterin is claiming that Russia’s federal patent agency has granted him a trademark for 😉 — the winking-face emoticon: "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," Mr Teterin said in comments on the ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

Russian entrepreneur Oleg Teterin is claiming that Russia's federal patent agency has granted him a trademark for ;-) -- the winking-face emoticon:

Russian entrepreneur Oleg Teterin is claiming that Russia’s federal patent agency has granted him a trademark for 😉 — the winking-face emoticon:

"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," Mr Teterin said in comments on the Russian TV channel, NTV.

"Legal use will be possible after buying an annual licence from us," he was quoted by the newspaper Kommersant as saying.

"It won’t cost that much – tens of thousands of dollars," added the businessman, who is president of Superfone, a company that sells advertising on mobile phones.

Thankfully, Teterin’s trademark is unlikely to apply internationally, or be enforced in Russia. All I have to say to him is 😛

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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