Can anyone add the TM (Trademark) or (R) registered trademark to a company logo?

(r) denotes a federally registered service mark. A trademark and a service mark are different. A service mark is a trademark used to identify a service not a product, whereas a trademark is a more generic term used to identify “any combination of words and symbols that a bushiness uses to identify its products or services and that federal law will protect” via Business Law and the Legal Environment by Beatty and Samuelson, glossary.

TM can be tacked on anything to show it is the “branding” – or trade mark – of your particular product.

‘registered’ trademark has legally specified protections, depending on what country you are in, and, yes, it has to be registered.

You can use the TM mark on your logo or branding so long as it does not infringe on any known use of the same mark, whether registered or unregistred.

The use of the® mark is exclusive to entities that has gone through the approval process of filing and registering a logo or brand with a national trademark office.

Yes…©DB

Here is a whole site on how to go about registering a trademark. You use TM until your registration comes through. After it does, you use ®.

EmpressPixie’s differentiation between a trademark and a service mark (SM until registered) is not quite correct.

“The trademark, service mark distinction is really quite small. Trademarks and service marks are essentially the same thing. However, a trademark promotes goods or products, while a service mark promotes services. Some examples of services include food services, transportation services and insurance services. ” Source

Mazel Tov™