For decades, this feel-good symbol has encouraged millions to smile.
The happy face and "Have a Nice Day " helped to define the '70s. With two dots and a pencil stroke, schoolchildren have brightened handwritten messages by filling in their O's with mini-smileys. These days, nary a cheery e-mail is complete without a typographical smile.
But now a bitter legal battle over smiley could be enough to make the happy little symbol .
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which uses a yellow happy face to try to put its shoppers in a carefree mood, is saying -- with a straight face -- that it has exclusive rights to the familiar image, at least among retail department stores.
The world's largest retailer is fighting a French native who has earned millions in licensing fees on smiley's back since the early 1970s, when he began securing trademarks for the happy face around the world.
It's the case of Mr. Smiley vs. \o7le smiley\f7.
The two sides are expected to wrap up their cases before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this summer, with a ruling sure to bring a smile to one side or another.
If Wal-Mart prevails, it could keep its competitors from festooning the symbol on plastic bags, name badges, balloons, handbags and just about anything else sold in stores, as well as the ads used to promote them.
The Frenchman, Franklin Loufrani, responded bluntly, sans happy face: No comment .
But Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley, not to be confused with , was happy to.
"It is kind of ironic that this whole dispute is about a smiley face," he said. "But in the end, it is what it is: It's a mark that we have a tremendous investment in and is very closely identified with our company."
Wal-Mart has invested billions of dollars through the years, Simley said, linking its name to the yellow circle with two dots for eyes and a cartoonish grin.
The company says it has officially been using what it calls Mr. Smiley since 1996 and in more limited ways long before that. But the company didn't move to register the trademark until someone else threatened to do so first, Simley said.
That was Loufrani, who began registering the happy face around the world more than 30 years ago and set up a company in London, SmileyWorld Ltd., to police its use.
Many people have claimed to have invented smiley. If you believe the movies, the title character in "Forrest Gump" inspired the icon when he wiped his muddy face with a T-shirt and gave the imprint to a struggling businessman who exploited the mark.
