The fact that the average person never pays much attention to typography is the entire objective of the art form. If you notice the typeface while reading, it's probably a bad design (I'm talking to you, Comic Sans). Typography, however, is a serious business. While there are universally-agreed-upon rules in the field (one space after periods), most typographers have a cult-like dedication to their particular school of thought. In case you think I'm overstating the seriousness of typographers about their craft, check out this video of a few of them getting emotional about Times New Roman, the most popular typeface in the world.

In 1931, British newspaper "The Times" commissioned Lanston Monotype Corporation to design a new typeface for the paper. The product of this collaboration, "Times New Roman," debuted in the October 3, 1932 edition of The Times. The typeface was later adopted as the standard typeface of Microsoft, securing its place as the most widely accepted typeface in history. As one typographer states in the video above, "No one ever got fired for using Times New Roman."

Although nearly everyone has used Times New Roman, I doubt many people know (I didn't until this morning) that Times New Roman® is a federally registered trademark.

So is Arial®.

And Helvetica®.

Even Wingdings® is a federally registered trademark.

In fact, Monotype's website has a listing of hundreds of typeface names that are trademarks. The lesson here is that even though the design of typefaces is considered an artistic endeavor, the names of these typefaces are used in commerce and can be protected with a federally registered trademark. Therefore, as I have mentioned before, artists should be aware of the possibility of building a valuable asset by seeking federal trademark protection for the titles of their works.

The lawyers at Trademarkology provide trademark registration services backed by the experience and service of one of the nation's oldest law firms. Click here to begin the process of protecting your brand name with a federally registered trademark.