What exactly is the difference between (C) copyright (R) registered (TM) trade mark I understand more or less but am somewhat confused. If I would want to protect a logo would I register it? trade mark it?
(C) copyright You have written the content and are claiming a copyright to the work. Anything published or not. (R) registered A trademark that has been registered with the proper trademark office for your state or federal agency. (TM) trade mark You are claiming a trademark on the name or phrase based on first use. In simple terms, it is the "common law" version of a trademark. Registered is better but this one is enforcable in a court of law. The burden of proof rest with you. Most people start here and upgrade if it is worth the expense to register.
.The copyright bug © can be used with any copyrighted material, registered or not. Unlike trademarks, copyrights exist as soon as something is created, so you can use this symbol freely for anything you create that is covered by copyright (books, songs, music, images, etc.). The registered trademark ® is used to indicate that your trademark is registered with the government, which gives you a wider range of statutory remedies in case of infringement You can put ™ on anything; it simply means that you consider it to be a trademark for your product or service.