Trade Mark Sign ™

The Trade Mark Sign character (™) is a standard HTML entity defined in the HTML specification. In HTML source code, it can be written using the named entity reference ™, the decimal numeric character reference ™, or the hexadecimal numeric reference ™. The character is assigned Unicode code point U+2122 in the Universal Character Set.

The trademark sign (™) indicates that a word, phrase, symbol, or design is being claimed as a trademark, regardless of whether it has been officially registered. Unlike the registered symbol (®), the trademark sign can be used freely without any registration process. It serves as notice that the mark's owner considers it proprietary.

Symbol entities encompass a wide variety of special characters used in legal disclaimers, intellectual property notices, typographic ornaments, card suit indicators, and miscellaneous notation throughout web content. These characters appear in website footers for copyright notices, product pages for trademark symbols, academic papers for dagger footnote markers, and decorative or gaming contexts for card suits and stars.

When deciding how to encode the Trade Mark Sign character in your HTML documents, the named entity ™ is generally the most readable choice for developers reviewing or maintaining source code. The decimal form ™ and hexadecimal form ™ are equally valid alternatives that work in contexts where named entities may not be supported, or when generating HTML output programmatically from server-side code. All three representations produce identical visual output in every modern web browser.

Use the trademark sign after brand names, product names, and slogans that are claimed as trademarks but may not yet be registered. It is commonly seen in product launches, marketing materials, and technology documentation. Once a mark is registered, it should be upgraded to the registered symbol ®.