So. I'm hanging out with a friend of mine. He does the adult ed catalog for one of the school districts around here (yeah, no. Not *that* kind of adult ed. You sickos!). He got an email back from the district whatever-person who kindly reminded him that due to some recent legal change all references to the acronym "GED" must be followed with a trademark symbol. I thought it just stood for "General Education Diploma" and wasn't some branded thing, but apparently that's not the case?
I get that there's a organization which makes the tests for the GED, but I figured the acronym itself couldn't be a trademark (unless in reference to the test?). I mean, we don't trademark MD, or BS, or DDS, or anything else that references a type of degree or diploma. What's different in this case?