# TM or R After One's Nick: Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 5, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394 "2003-07-05T16:56:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/1 "2003-07-05T16:56:53Z")
Can one really go through a process whereby one has one’s name trademarked or copyrighted, or is it just for appearance’s sake that I’m seeing this used here? I go to a chat room now and then where I playfully add the R in a circle after my nickname, but hell, even **I** know it’s a joke. There must be hundreds of **Quasimodems** on the net! I found out when I once tried to use it on my hotmail account. I was told to add the number 51 after the name and I quickly realized that there might be others who thought the name was clever, but it didn’t upset me. I don’t have a legal claim to the name and don’t pretend to, so what the story on the TM and/or the R? Is it actually an indication that the name is legally protected or what? Thanks Quasi ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/2 "2003-07-05T17:20:17Z")
I doubt it. It’s probably along the lines of mockery. Like people who have barcodes tattooed on them. In fact, I bet it’s the same people. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/3 "2003-07-05T18:10:10Z")
So, how do we know you’re the _real_ **Quasimodem** , and not just clone #24-B (ii) ? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/4 "2003-07-05T19:04:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Quasimodem \* > **Can one really go through a process whereby one has one’s name trademarked or copyrighted, or is it just for appearance’s sake that I’m seeing this used here?** You can go through the process, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be successful. Your level of success depends on the merits of your claim and how much money you are willing to shell out for the fees and lawyers. > [@](#): > > **I don’t have a legal claim to the name and don’t pretend to, so what the story on the TM and/or the R? Is it actually an indication that the name is legally protected or what?** The odds are nearly 100% certain that the average person in chat or on this Board has no exclusive legal claim to put an “Registered Trademark” or “Trademark” after their name. In fact, if a person actually did legally register their name, I have a feeling that it could potentially cause so much trouble for the SDMB that they would ban that name. Imagine a case where a OneTrickPosterA[sup]TM[/sup] gets into a fight with AverageMemberB, and AverageMemberB quotes his post with his name in it, and OneTrickPosterA[sup]TM[/sup] cries indignantly “your use of my trademarked name is improper, and I demand you cease and desist immediately…” etc, etc. It’s just the normal Net/IRC/Livejournal legal-ignorant bullshit that people do, like claiming they “own” sigs which are quotes of others in the first place (and then demand people ask “permission” before using them), or people claiming falsely that just because they _can_ physically get to a site they have a “right” to get to a site because it’s “public” and thus they can’t be banned from it (losers), or that the icon they stole from the Power Puff girls is somehow “theirs” as a “derivative work” because they used the “Crop” function in Paint , etc. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/5 "2003-07-05T19:10:02Z")
[448 search results for **Quasimodem** on Google.](http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=Quasimodem&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&meta=) I think I found _our_ **Quasi** at about page four or so (an SDMB Cafe Society thread link). On the other hand, there’s [1920 results for “Ice Wolf”](http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=%22Ice+Wolf%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&meta=) (but I crop up on page 2). I reckon ® is lost to both of us, **Quasi**. Ah, well … ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/6 "2003-07-05T19:21:24Z")
Teoma shows 47 results for Quasimodem, and “our” Q is #37. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/7 "2003-07-05T19:51:34Z")
Well, I _could_ copyright / trademark the name **Flamsterette\_X** … seeing that [all 54 Google results are me](http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Flamsterette_X&btnG=Google+Search&meta=). 🆒 I don’t quite think I’ll do that, though. But to paraphrase / modify a quote from **SPOZ** : “dude… I _OWN_ the Google search results!” F\_X ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/8 "2003-07-05T19:53:04Z")
What do you know… I apparently own [the 20 Google search results for **Flamsterette**](http://www.google.ca/search?q=Flamsterette&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=0), as well. F\_X ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/9 "2003-07-05T19:54:19Z")
Hey, **Flamsterette\_X** : 😛 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/10 "2003-07-05T20:21:05Z")
“ **Our** _Quasi_”? Awwwwwww, y’all! Hugs all around!🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/11 "2003-07-06T01:17:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven \* > \*\*So, how do we know you’re the _real_ **Quasimodem** , and not just clone #24-B (ii) ? \*\* Because, **Dex** , after more than 2100 posts, you will have learned my on-line personality (which pretty much resembles my RT persona), my penchant for using southern colloqualisms, and I’m not sure about this, but can’t you do a trace on my IP to see if this is really me? I sometimes wonder myself! 😃 Q ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/12 "2003-07-06T01:57:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ice Wolf \* > \*\*Hey, **Flamsterette\_X** : 😛 > > 🙂 \*\* Yeah, yeah… does it sound like I am boasting? 🙂 I’m really not, I assure you! F\_X ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/13 "2003-07-06T02:07:40Z")
Oops. 4,340 results for me at Google. Guess I won’t be trademarkin’ nuttin. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/14 "2003-07-06T13:37:02Z")
Of the **Three** results for my name: #1 is my member profile at the SDMB-in-exile at [bbboy.net](http://bbboy.net) (from last year when the boards went down and they Admins in their infinite compassion and wisdom set up a temporary board). #2 is a \*.pdf document that won’t open (apparently on the site of the “German Dogsled Club” or something.) #3 is an old sports column in a German online newspaper, that contains the string in its URL, apparently because of a match between teams from **Wolf** sburg and **Stu** ttgart. Um… very MPSIMSy, I suppose. I’d guess, though, that **Anthracite** is right about the trademarking. Expensive, and causing more headaches than it would be worth. People who put the “TM” beside their name are just playing around, I’d expect. I’ve seen people put frivolous TM’s in their posts, too. Like, in an MPSIMS thread, someone might jokingly suggest that the solution to a problem is to use the patented Hamster-Powered Ignorance-Effacing Cecilinium-Coated Ray Gun of Death ™… when clearly the patent and trademark are just for effect. Or perhaps the people who tack it onto their name just think they’re cooler than they are… “Heh heh, look at my uber-kool chatroom personality. I Rock. I’m The Eliminator ™” ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/15 "2003-07-06T18:25:04Z")
I suppose this could be a good place to mention that when I mention the Perfect Child[sup]TM[/sup], in that case, TM = Tactical Misinformation. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/16 "2003-07-07T23:09:23Z")
Well shucks. I can’t even tell how deep I have to Google to find the Real Me; out of approximately 147000 Google hits for Chronos, apparently only about 30something are recognizably me. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tm-or-r-after-ones-nick-why/186394/17 "2003-07-08T00:21:24Z")
I show up as #7, behind [this thing](http://www.importliquidators.com/Suppliers/Wood/htm/dogbutler.htm)