It is the result of your laborious efforts. Right now, copyright it.

It is usually not hard to tell if anything can be protected by copyright. Public domain works include books, movies, and music. Photographs, paintings, and artistic drawings are also protected by copyright. It can get a bit more challenging as you progress to more sophisticated tasks and drawings. The general rule is that anything that depicts a three-dimensional object visually, whether in two or three dimensions, is susceptible to copyright protection. If you need assistance securing copyright protection for your:

• Written work such as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, textbooks, reference works or articles
• Directories or catalogs, advertising copy
• Computer programs
• Website or online materials
• Photograph
• Art Work
• Maps
• Technical Drawings
• Recorded performance of music or sound
• Written music & Lyrics, Screenplay or script
• A Choreographic work
• A recorded score for a movie or play
• Feature film, documentary film, animated film, television show, video, or other Audi-Visual Work

The law in the United States provides that you are granted a copyright in your work the minute you create it regardless of whether you register your work. Assuming your work is original and has a basic amount of creativity, you may claim ownership and protection. The problem is without registering, you have an incomplete form of protection in that you cannot enforce your rights in a court of law in America.

What we commonly think of as a brand name and the notoriety it brings are examples of what a trademark protects: words, phrases, symbols, and designs that differentiate the source of goods. Any 'any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof'—including its functionality or design—can be protected by a patent. The relevant section is 35 U.S.C. … 101. Books, pictures, paintings, movies, and music are all examples of artistic works that are typically protected by copyrights.

The law in the United States provides that you are granted a copyright in your work the minute you create it regardless of whether you register your work. Assuming your work is original and has a basic amount of creativity, you may claim ownership and protection. The problem is without registering, you have an incomplete form of protection in that you cannot enforce your rights in a court of law in America.

• The ability to file a lawsuit: If your work is not registered with the copyright office, you cannot file suit for copyright infringement.
• Statutory damages: If not timely filed, you cannot sue for statutory damages. You would therefore have to prove that someone’s copying of your work caused you actual damages that you can calculate and tie to the infringement of the other person. (more on this below)
• Protection from imported infringing copies: Registration also allows you to record the registration with the U.S. Customs Service for protection against the importation of infringing copies.
• Firm claim of ownership: Registration makes it more difficult for infringers to argue that they were unaware of their infringement as it acts as a notice to everyone that you own the copyright.
• Image of Establishment: In some industries (such as film scripts), registration of copyright is a prerequisite to get some people (like agents) to take you seriously.

Various commodities and services can be identified using a variety of categories, which are also called International Classes. There is a set of trademark classifications that the USPTO has already established. Companies who run restaurant chains (Class 043) and sell things in grocery shops (Class 030) under the name of those restaurants may find it useful to register their marks in more than one class. It should be noted that there is a filing cost associated with each chosen category by the USPTO. For more in-depth explanations of each category, have a look at WIPO's Nice Classifications. Determine if you're selling a product or a service before settling on a category. Items such as nuts, bolts, alcohol, and t-shirts are examples of goods. Legal, consulting, and accounting services are just a few examples of the many service types available. Using different classes when registering might be useful in some cases. The choice is critical since, in most cases, a registered trademark will only protect the goods or services specified in the application. Although broader categories offer greater protection, the registration could be nullified if the category does not precisely match the applied-for commodity or service. There is an additional filing cost and some difficulty involved in changing the class designation. Keep in mind that distinct classes of goods and services may be encompassed by trademarks for different names of companies. Additional costs must be paid to the USPTO for each registration. Advice on Which Category to Choose

• Determine whether you are selling a good or service.
• Try to be as accurate as possible because filing in the wrong class can be the basis of a rejection by the USPTO.
• Pick the most accurate category from the USPTO list. These are all included on the drop-down menu on the Us Trademark Service website.
• Focus on the finished product to the consumer and not on the ingredients that go into the goods or service.
• Focus on what is actually sold to consumers and not extra things like the fact that employees may have shirts or hats with the company logo.
• Don’t think about the packaging. A fruit seller probably doesn’t sell paper goods just because its logo appears on the packaging that comes with the fruit.
• Although more expensive, some companies file under more than one category when they sell multiple products.

In most cases, a copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. If the author of the work died in 2070, then the copyright, in most situations, would last until 2140. For works made for hire, and for anonymous and pseudonymous works, the duration of copyright is 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation (whichever is shorter).