Registered Sign
Block: Latin-1 Supplement
- Symbol
- ®
- Unicode
U+00AE- Unicode name
- REGISTERED SIGN
- Block
- Latin-1 Supplement
- Script
- Common
- Category
- Symbol, Other
- Type
- Unicode symbol
The registered sign ® is U+00AE, formally named REGISTERED SIGN; Unicode also records the earlier name “registered trade mark sign.” It is a separate character from ™ TRADE MARK SIGN (U+2122) and from circled letter R characters such as Ⓡ U+24C7, so exact text should preserve the intended code point rather than substitute a similar-looking mark.
Why ® Appears With a Registered Mark
The character ® is Unicode U+00AE REGISTERED SIGN. Unicode NamesList also records the historical name “registered trade mark sign,” while U.S. Patent and Trademark Office guidance describes ® as the registration symbol used with a federally registered trademark in the United States.
For text handling, keep the two layers separate: U+00AE tells you which symbol is present, while the surrounding brand or notice supplies its real-world context. The character itself is not a registration record, so this page identifies the mark in text rather than determining the status of a particular brand.
For a different unknown mark, try what is the name of ®? and identify the character from its glyph, Unicode value, or appearance.
Digital Representations of U+00AE
U+00AE = decimal 174 = HTML ® / ®. A Unicode escape-style form is u00AE. Its UTF-8 bytes are C2 AE.
Use these values when a notice, brand string, or exported record must preserve the exact mark even when the glyph cannot be entered directly.
® and ™ Are Different Unicode Characters
Unicode encodes ® as U+00AE REGISTERED SIGN and ™ as U+2122 TRADE MARK SIGN. In brand or product text, the two symbols communicate different named marks, and software can distinguish them because their code points are different.
For identification, preserve the character actually present in the source. Choosing between ® and ™ is not a font-style decision: replacing one with the other changes the text value and the mark being displayed.
® Is Not the Circled Letter R Character
Unicode cross-references Ⓡ U+24C7 CIRCLED LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R from the REGISTERED SIGN entry. The two characters can share a circle-and-R appearance, but U+00AE and U+24C7 are separate Unicode identities.
When exact text matters, inspect the code point rather than recreating the appearance with a circled letter. A visual match does not make Ⓡ a substitute for ®.