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[Faye]

I came up with a new phrase and I want to use it on t-shirts etc. I plan to do this for profit and was wondering how I can copyright the phrase.

[eric_stasik]

Dear Faye,

The US Copyright Office has some information about this on their FAQ page.

"Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. In some cases, these things may be protected as trademarks. Contact the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, 800-786-9199, for further information. However, copyright protection may be available for logo artwork that contains sufficient authorship. In some circumstances, an artistic logo may also be protected as a trademark."

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html

Here are some basic facts about trademark:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/doc/basic/

Regards,

Eric Stasik

[M_Arthur_Auslander]

The phrase may be used as a trademark and registered. Its availabililty must be checked and it must be used as a trademark, not just casually used on the T shirt.