copyright or trademark?

[bscott]

What is the name of your state? TX

if my artwork is copyrighted and used on a Tee Shirt is it automaticlly protected or do i need to apply for a trademark for it as well? thanks for the help.

 

[divgradcurl]

What is the name of your state? TX

if my artwork is copyrighted and used on a Tee Shirt is it automaticlly protected or do i need to apply for a trademark for it as well? thanks for the help.

Trademark protections are only appropriate when artwork or whatever is being used to "identify" your company or your goods or services. For example, if you had a company, "Art T-Shirts" that sold t-shirts with different artwork on them, the name of your company "Art T-Shirts" would be suitable for trademark protections, while the actual artwork itself would be covered by copyright.

Now, if you used the SAME piece of artwork on each shirt, and that piece of artwork became your "logo" or otherwise would identify a T-shirt as coming from your company, then trademark protections would be appropriate for the artwork itself.