Trademark types frequently encounter brand owners and managers with substantial misunderstanding and confusion about when use of the federal registration notice symbol is lawful. Most of the time a misuse or technical violation results from an honest mistake, but sometimes the misuse is, and starts out intentional, or perhaps the misuse begins to look intentional if it isn't promptly fixed or corrected upon learning of the misuse.

Section 906 of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) answers some of the most common questions regarding misuse with this guidance...