MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - A Russian mobile advertising firm has registered the smiley emoticon as its trademark and will sue companies that do not pay for the right to use the image, a Russian business daily said on Thursday.

However, Kommersant quoted market players who said Superphone president, Oleg Teterin, would be unlikely to find "fools" willing to pay for use of the image.

Teterin said Wednesday that the trademark had been registered as belonging to his company with the appropriate Russian authorities, the paper reported.

"This means no commercial organization in Russia can use the image in advertising. This does not concern ordinary people using smiley faces, let's say, on the Internet," he said.

Teterin said, as quoted by the paper, that Superphone would demand compensation for the illegal use of the images. He said his company would offer a year-long license for smiley faces for "several dozen thousand dollars."

A partner in Salans, a Russian law firm, told the paper that non-payers could face a fine up to 5 million rubles (roughly $180,000) and could have their goods withdrawn for unauthorized use of the trademark.

However, Viktor Naumov told Kommersant the registration of the trademark was not quite legitimate as "the images have been widely used and their registration as a trademark could be in conflict with public interests."

The president of Odnoklassniki.ru, a network service for classmates and old friends that is popular in Russia and in the former Soviet Union and claims to have 25 million registered users, brushed aside the warning, the paper said.

"There are no idiots in Russia who will pay for the use of smileys," Nikita Sherman told the daily.