Though companies often place a high value on protecting their trademarks, some may be missing out on the opportunity to put others on notice of their rights by way of trademark symbols.

For in-house attorneys, proper use of these symbols may not only stave off potential infringers, but in some cases, may also protect the ability to collect damages in an infringement suit.

There are three commonly used trademark symbols: “TM” represents unregistered marks for goods; “SM” represents unregistered marks for services; and a circled “R” is the federal registration symbol that represents a mark that has been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.