Trademark, copyright or patent: which one do you need?
Updated November 14, 2026
People mix these up all the time, and filing the wrong one wastes money. Each protects something different.
Trademark: your name, logo or slogan
A trademark protects what identifies your business or product to customers: a business name, a product name, a slogan, a logo. It lasts as long as you keep using it and keep it up to date. This is what My Trademark Pro helps with.
Copyright: something you created
A copyright protects creative work: books, songs, photos, art, videos, scripts. It does not protect names, titles, slogans or ideas. The work is protected the moment you make it, and registering it is the step that proves it.
Patent: an invention
A patent protects a new invention or process, such as a machine, a method or a design for a useful object. It is the most complicated and costly of the three, and the rules are strict.
A quick way to tell
- Customers see it and know who sells the product: trademark.
- You wrote it, drew it, filmed it or recorded it: copyright.
- You invented how something works: patent.
Some things need more than one. A cartoon character can be a copyright, and its name can also be a trademark.
Source: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's explanation of trademark basics.
Answer a few plain questions. My Trademark Pro works out the classes, warns you about the usual problems, and gives you the exact answer for every box. You file it online yourself.
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This guide is general information, not legal advice. My Trademark Pro is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. We prepare your filing; you file it yourself on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website. The USPTO, not My Trademark Pro, decides whether to register a mark. Fees and rules are set by the USPTO and can change. Its website, uspto.gov, has the current ones.