>:-(

A Russian businessman has trademarked the emoticon, ;-), used to convey a wink in text messages and e-mail.

Oleg Teterin, president of the mobile ad company Superfone, said Thursday he doesn't plan on tracking down individual users following the decision by the federal patent agency. "I want to highlight that this is only directed at corporations, companies that are trying to make a profit without the permission of the trademark holder," he said in comments to NTV.

Companies will be sent legal warnings if they use the symbol without his permission, he said.

He also said since other similar emoticons, :-) or ;) or :), resemble the one he has trademarked, use of those symbols could also fall under his ownership.

Scott Fahlman, a professor at the Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, claims that he was the first to use three keystrokes, a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis , as a horizontal "smiley face" in a computer message 25 years ago.