Just curious, who made the MC logo anyway? I created the emoticon, but there's no way it's a trademark violation.
I've been in trademark battles in the past, and the way the whole thing works is like this -- there are federally registered trademarks that have the circle (R) attached, and there are general trademarks that have the TM attached (or simply an announcement that something is being declared as a trademark).
Trademarks can only be declared and defended. If federally registered there's a higher hill to climb in regards to declaring, but a lower to climb in regards to defending.
Stardust Technologies got into it with me over Stardust Software. They had the federal registered (R) trademark, but I beat them in a legal squabble because I had prior use (they just dropped the entire threatened lawsuit once it was made apparent to them they would lose their federal registration if they continued pursuing me). Also, while unimportant, Stardust Technologies no longer exists, and Stardust Software still does.
In any case, the Flickr photo taken from the road has the

logo, and there is no trademark notice attached to it -- so it is not a valid display for protection, it actually unprotects it. No matter what, you absolutely must legally defend a trademark to protect it. Any reasonable lapse of doing so causes it to become invalid.
I seriously doubt

could be trademarked now anyway, considering the way it's been misused, and there really needs to be a market conflict in order to raise any sort of claim. That's why Stardust Casino has nothing to do with Stardust Software in the trademark arena, although Stardust Casino is no longer around either.
The person who originally created the

logo, holds a copyright over it, unless they've specifically stated it is public domain.
However, copyright law is very complex, and does not work the way you think it does. You can't bring any case to court without federal registration. Also, if you register late (as in after 90 days from original creation) you forfeit statutory damages and are only then allowed actual damages.
I can't imagine any actual damages could possibly exist in regards to that logo though, because you would have to prove an income from it and any damages an alleged infringement caused, which is basically impossible. If timely registered, you wouldn't have to prove anything, you automatically receive statutory damages which has a minimum and maximum amount. The Berne Convention supersedes Federal Copyright Law, so it is first and foremost, and then falls back to the U.S. Law for anything not covered.