I majored in Latin in college and did some graduate work in classical linguistics, which qualified me to do nothing in adult life except (1) teach a couple of dead languages, and (2) answer questions like this.
The word "marca" is not Classical Latin. The word exists in Medieval Latin, where it is a loanword from (probably) a germanic term. The participial form "registrada" is neither classical or medieval Latin, though it has been shaped by rules of Latin word formation. The proper Latin form (if the underlying verb actually existed) would be "registrata," with a t before the final vowel.
"Marca Registrada" is the term for "Trademark" in both Spanish and Portuguese, though the spelling "registada" is also seen in Portuguese-speaking countries. S&W had experienced problems with Spanish knock-offs of their revolvers in the early 1900s; they had also fulfilled two huge contracts to provide weapons to Brazil, a Portuguese-speaking nation, in 1937 and 1946. Roy Jinks has reported that the company found it necessary following an infringement lawsuit in the 1920s to mark their exports to Spain with a Spanish-language trademark to protect their legal rights there. Before WWII, some exported guns were so marked. Shortly after WWII, with the recent 1946 Brazilian contract still visible in the rear view mirror and with the possibility of new international trade opening up in Spanish-speaking countries, president Carl Hellstrom decided to simplify export labeling by just putting the phrase on all company products. It was easier to mark all guns than to keep track of the ones going to specific countries and labeling only those. The order to make the change to the four line address block containing the phrase "marcas registradas" was issued in April of 1948.
S&W wasn't the only company to do this. Am I the only one who remembers the "marca registrada" phrase molded into Coke bottles in the 1950s? I guess there was a body of international copyright law that required imported products to carry trademark notifications in the language of the importing country.
I'm not sure why Brazilian contract guns, all shipped before 1948, don't have the phrase; perhaps the court case had no effect outside of Spain and it is only coincidence that the Spanish phrase is also used in Portuguese.
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David Wilson
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