Trademark notices of film and TV shows

RJDG14 · 08-28-2015, 04:59 PM

I've always been curious as to when most film/TV studios begin a copyright notice as "THIS SHOW TM & (C) XXXX" due to the trademark usage. Does the TM symbol in this case mean that the whole movie itself is subject to trademark terms in order to prevent it from entering the public domain (as opposed to just copyright), or does it only say that the subject title has been trademarked? I've seen this form of message on a few books and video games too (and perhaps some Apple products), so it's not uncommon, but unlike the "(P) & (C)" music copyright notice that is defined in the law, I'm not aware of the phrase "TM & (C)" being in the books. Interesting to see why some of the media does this. What I'm basically asking is whether something with the notice "TM & (C)" would be any different to a subject who's name/logo is trademarked but all other entities are only protected by (C)?

08-28-2015, 04:59 PM	#1 (permalink)
RJDG14 Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2015 Posts: 157	Trademark notices of film and TV shows I've always been curious as to when most film/TV studios begin a copyright notice as "THIS SHOW TM & (C) XXXX" due to the trademark usage. Does the TM symbol in this case mean that the whole movie itself is subject to trademark terms in order to prevent it from entering the public domain (as opposed to just copyright), or does it only say that the subject title has been trademarked? I've seen this form of message on a few books and video games too (and perhaps some Apple products), so it's not uncommon, but unlike the "(P) & (C)" music copyright notice that is defined in the law, I'm not aware of the phrase "TM & (C)" being in the books. Interesting to see why some of the media does this. What I'm basically asking is whether something with the notice "TM & (C)" would be any different to a subject who's name/logo is trademarked but all other entities are only protected by (C)?