You may have loved using the symbol with the colon and the right closing bracket that formed to be a smiley and may have been using it in almost every chat messages or in mail basically symbolizing to smile and share your happiness with all.
Things may now go the other way ie., :( coz the smiley Wal-Mart Inc. is now out to patent the symbol.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which uses a yellow happy face to try to put its shoppers in a carefree mood, is saying — with a straight face — that it has exclusive rights to the familiar image, at least among retail department stores.

The world's largest retailer is fighting a French native who has earned millions in licensing fees on smiley's back since the early 1970s, when he began securing trademarks for the happy face around the world.

Read More:
Wal-Mart Vies for Right to Put On a Happy Face on LA Times

Quoted from Slate.com:

Have A Nice Day, See You In Court: Although Wal-Mart claims exclusive rights to use "Mr. Smiley," its smiley-face logo, in connection with retail, the company's claim is being challenged by a Frenchman who holds trademarks on the smiley-face in over 80 countries, the LAT reports. Franklin Loufrani has "applied for a trademark in 16 categories that would have granted him rights to smiley on products including depilatory wax, swords—'a smiley on that would be very disarming,' his lawyer said—and even animal semen."

Wal-Mart seeks smiley face rights on BBC