What ®︎ means and when you can use it
The ®︎ symbol means the mark is a registered trademark: it has been officially registered with a national trademark office, such as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In the US you may use ®︎ only after the registration is granted, and only for the goods and services the registration covers. Using it on a mark that is pending or unregistered is a misuse that can hurt your rights, and in some countries, such as the UK, falsely claiming that a mark is registered is an offense.
If your mark is not registered yet, use ™︎ (or ℠ for services) instead. Once it is registered, ®︎ puts everyone on notice, and under US law that notice makes it easier to recover profits and damages from an infringer. This is general information, not legal advice.
How to place the ®︎ symbol
®︎ usually sits right after the mark, small and raised: Brand®︎. You do not need it on every mention; many style guides use it on the first or most prominent appearance and leave it off later in the same text. Some fonts draw ®︎ large and on the baseline, so in Word you may want superscript (Ctrl + Shift + =), and in Google Docs Ctrl + ..
Do not confuse ®︎ with Ⓡ, the circled capital R: it looks similar but is just a letter in a circle. In Canadian French, the equivalent of ®︎ is MD (marque déposée), and some Spanish-speaking countries use MR (marca registrada); both exist as single characters, 🅫 and 🅬.
How to type the registered symbol
Windows: hold Alt and type 0174 on the number pad. Mac: Option + R. Word: type (r) and AutoCorrect changes it to ®︎, or press Ctrl + Alt + R. Google Docs: (r) also turns into ®︎ automatically.
iPhone: ®︎ is in the Symbols section of the emoji keyboard. Android: Gboard has ®︎ on the =\< symbols page. HTML: ®. LaTeX: \textregistered. For marks that are not registered, see the trademark symbol page; for fancy letter Rs, see R symbols.