Trademark vs copyright
A trademark protects the name, logo or slogan that tells customers who a product comes from. Copyright protects an original creative work: text, code, images, music, video. A business name is a trademark question; the words on your website are a copyright question.
| Trademark | Copyright | |
|---|---|---|
| Protects | names, logos, slogans, used for goods or services | original works: writing, code, art, music, film |
| How you get it | use (United States) and registration with an office, per class | automatically, when the work is created (in the United States, once it is fixed in a tangible form) |
| Registration | per register: USPTO, EUIPO, Israel Patent Office | optional; in the United States, needed before suing over a US work |
| How long | ten years at a time, renewable; can be cancelled if left unused | in the US, the EU and Israel, generally the author's life plus 70 years |
| Stops others from | using a confusingly similar mark for related goods | copying or adapting the work |
Names are not copyrighted
In the United States, names, titles and short phrases are not protected by copyright, and in the EU and Israel a name is rarely original enough to be. The usual way to protect a business, product or app name is to register it as a trademark, for the classes you sell in.
A logo can be both
An original logo is a creative work, so copyright covers the drawing; registered as a trademark, it also protects you against confusingly similar logos in your field. The two run side by side.
And patents
A patent protects an invention: how something works. It is the third right, separate from both, and the only one examined for novelty.
A register search shows whether a name is already a live trademark. It says nothing about copyright, and it is not legal advice.