Editing Emoticon (section)

==Intellectual property rights==
[[File:USpatent6987991 emoticon.jpg|thumb|Patented drop down menu for composing phone mail text message with emoticons<ref name="Nelsonpatent">{{cite patent|country=US|number=6987991|inventor1-first=Johnathon O.|inventor1-last=Nelson|assign=Wildseed Ltd.|pubdate=2006-01-17|title=Emoticon input method and apparatus}}</ref>]]

In 2000, [[Despair, Inc.]] obtained a U.S. [[trademark]] registration for the "frowny" emoticon {{nowrap|<code>:-(</code>}} when used on "greeting cards, posters and art prints". In 2001, they issued a satirical press release, announcing that they would sue Internet users who typed the frowny; the company received protests when its mock release was posted on technology news website [[Slashdot]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Schwartz |first=John |date=January 29, 2001 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/29/technology/29LOGO.html |title=Compressed Data; Don't Mind That Lawsuit, It's Just a Joke |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817050840/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/29/technology/29LOGO.html |archive-date=August 17, 2016 |url-status=live| work=The New York Times}}</ref>

A number of [[patent application]]s have been filed on inventions that assist in communicating with emoticons. A few of these have been issued as US [[patent]]s. US 6987991,<ref name ="Nelsonpatent" /> for example, discloses a method developed in 2001 to send emoticons over a cell phone using a drop-down menu. The stated advantage was that it [[Usability|eases]] entering emoticons.<ref name="Nelsonpatent" />

The emoticon <code>:-)</code> was also filed in 2006 and registered in 2008 as a European [[Community Trademark]] (CTM). In [[Finland]], the [[Supreme Administrative Court of Finland|Supreme Administrative Court]] ruled in 2012 that the emoticon cannot be trademarked,<ref>{{cite web|author=STT |url=https://www.iltalehti.fi/uutiset/a/2012081315947358 |title=Hymiölle ei saa tavaramerkkiä &#124; Kotimaan uutiset |publisher=Iltalehti.fi |date=August 13, 2012 |access-date=March 14, 2013}}</ref> thus repealing a 2006 administrative decision trademarking the emoticons <code>:-)</code>, <code>=)</code>, <code>{{nowrap|1==(}}</code>, <code>:)</code> and {{nowrap|<code>:(</code>.}}<ref>{{cite journal | title = Tavaramerkkilehti | journal = Tavaramerkkilehti | issue = 10 | pages = 27–28 | date = May 31, 2006 | url = http://tavaramerkki.prh.fi/lehti/tm/Tavaramerkkilehti10S_2006.pdf | access-date = June 16, 2007 }}</ref> In 2005, a Russian court rejected a legal claim against [[Siemens]] by a man who claimed to hold a trademark on the <code>;-)</code> emoticon.<ref name="bbcwink" /> In 2008, Russian entrepreneur Oleg Teterin claimed to have been granted the trademark on the <code>;-)</code> emoticon. A license would not "cost that much—tens of thousands of dollars" for companies but would be free of charge for individuals.<ref name="bbcwink">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7778767.stm |title=Russian hopes to cash in on ;-) |work=BBC News|date=December 11, 2008 |access-date=March 14, 2013}}</ref>