Much Ado Over the Smiley Face

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Earlier this year Alice wrote about Cingular patenting the emoticon. But that patent only applied to the concept of using emoticon on mobile phones, not to the emoticon or smiley face itself, which was trademarked by SmileyWorld, the French company that first registered rights to the symbol decades ago. However, Wal-Mart has said that face has long been the symbol of its business and price-reduction policy. In the United States, being the first to register a trademark carries less weight than being the first to commercially exploit a symbol, so Wal-Mart hopes to win a decision in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this summer.

The most widely credited claim for inventing the smiley face goes to Harvey Ball for the smiley yellow button he made for Massachusetts-based State Mutual Life Insurance in 1963. A graphic artist, Ball was paid $45 for creating a button intended to cheer employees during a rocky merger with an out-of-town firm, according to his 2001 obituary in The Worcester Telegram & Gazette in Massachusetts. Although irked by reports that (Franklin) Loufrani (who says he initially registered the design with the French trademark authorities in October 1971) claimed to invent the smiley, Ball never attempted to trademark or commercially exploit the symbol.

Loufrani, however, built a business from royalties collected on a symbol he claimed to have trademarked in 98 countries for use over a wide range of product categories. Source: International Herald Tribune

We Say: I found Nicolas Loufrani’s (Franklin’s son, now in charge of the business) statement about what he would do if SmileyWorld won particularly humorous. He indicated he would not license use of the symbol to Wal-Mart. “We want to aim our brand more upmarket.”