Q: i am not trying to trademark my name… i was just curious why in your form the last name of my upper/lower case name has a TM after it…. but if it should be there and you know this to be true since you are the creator of the form, it is fine with me…or maybe the TM doesn’t stand for trademark… other than this everything is fine…

R: You are are asking a very good question, the TM stands for Trade Mark. The form of John-Henry: Jones is intended to read as John Henry of the Jones family which is to say the individual that goes by or answers to John Henry belongs to/is from the family or clan Jones.

Referencing ‘Cracking the Code’ third edition the samples there in only use the copyright symbol not TM for either the full caps version or the lower case version. From the same source, “Your TRADE NAME is common-law property; your True Name is autograph-common-law copyright. Any name used by anyone in the system to identify/reference you is your property and not be lawfully taken without incurring the obligation of compensating you.

Your name is not copyrighted statutorily because you are a flesh-and -blood-man-not a corporation-and deal exclusively in the common law. Since the law cannot compel impossibilities, you have on one option, common law, which you have accessed by copyrighting your property.”

Would you, could you trade mark that name is a good question which nobody has asked me in over 5 years. The best answer I can give you is that I followed the example of Irene Gravenhurst in addition to what I already said in my answer to you previously. A trade mark would indicate that the name is used for trade and that there exists a claim over the use of it, a copyright make would indicate something similar – this is why I use both forms. However in your wisdom should you deem this not appropriate I can remove one or both. Advise me what you wish to do.