Why does Canadian government redefine the trademark as MC/MD?

[trueo]

Why does Canadian government redefine the trademark as MC/MD instead of just using TM ?
By the way, without using the sup tags, where can I find a tiny super TM/MC/MD ? I can't find them in my Character Map.

I found this ® but this isn't what I want, I would like the superscript MD/MC

 

[Simon Bridge]

It's because Canada is a bilingual country:
“TM/MC” (trade-mark/marque de commerce) for an unregistered mark
“TM/MD” (trade-mark/marque deposée) for a registered mark.

The bilingual approach has an asterisk by the trademark and some note like:

* reg-TM/MD Acme Corp or
* TM/MC Acme Corp

for registered and unregistered trademarks.

per your question:
You need to use a character set that supports a trademark symbol - simple as that.
Not all fonts support all characters.

LaTeX supports trademark symbols and has international language support packages.
(but not PFLatex it seems: $\text{\textregistered}$ ... see?)

In English you use the (R) and TM marks you are familiar with - but the French version of (R) is (E) for "enrigistrée". IFAIK there is no special character for an unregistered trademark in the French.

See also:
http://www.bereskinparr.com/SubSection/About_Intellectual_Property/Trademarks/Use_
http://www.progressmedia.ca/article/2008/07/protecting-your-brand-canada-2