Oleg Teterin, president of the mobile ad company Superfone, has trademarked the ;-) wink and most others [such as :-) :( ], as they are close resemblances of it.

The reaction in his home country was quick and predictable. Alexander Manis, the director of a Russian broadband internet and mobile company drew a good comparison:

“Imagine the next wise-guy who trademarks the 33 letters of the Russian alphabet and then says anyone who uses the Russian alphabet has to send him money. It’s absurd!”

But luckily, Teterin only targets companies using the combination. Home users should be safe from lawsuits, as he describes:

I want to highlight that this is only directed at corporations, companies that are trying to make a profit without the permission of the trademark holder. Legal use will be possible after buying an annual license from us. It won’t cost that much—tens of thousands of dollars.

I hope other “entrepreneurs”  don’t get any ideas from this…