These protect different things, and the confusion between them is expensive because people end up protecting the wrong asset or believing they are covered when they are not.
The shortest version: trademark protects what you are called; copyright protects what you made.
What each one covers
Trademark protects names, logos, slogans and other indicators that tell buyers where a product came from. Its purpose is to prevent confusion in the marketplace, which is why protection is tied to the goods and services you sell rather than to the word in the abstract. It can last indefinitely, as long as you keep using it and keep filing the maintenance documents.
Copyright protects original creative expression fixed in some tangible form: writing, photographs, music, video, software code, illustration. It arises automatically the moment the work is created, with no registration required. It lasts for the life of the author plus seventy years, and for works made for hire, ninety-five years from publication.
Where people get it wrong
A logo is often both. The logo as an indicator of your brand is a trademark. The artwork itself, if it is original enough, is also a copyrightable work. These are separate rights that can be owned by different people, which matters enormously when a freelancer designed it.
A business name is not copyrightable. Names, titles and short phrases do not qualify for copyright regardless of how clever they are. If you want to own a name, trademark is the only route.
Copyright is automatic, registration is not pointless. You own the copyright on creation, but you generally cannot sue for infringement of a US work until it is registered, and registering before the infringement begins is what unlocks statutory damages and attorney fees. Without that, you are limited to proving actual damages, which is often the difference between a case worth bringing and one that is not.
The freelancer problem
This one is worth its own paragraph because it catches almost everyone. If you paid a contractor to design your logo, write your site, or build your app, you may not own the copyright. In the United States the creator owns it by default, and work-made-for-hire status applies automatically only to employees, or to a narrow statutory list of commissioned works with a signed agreement.
Paying an invoice is not an assignment. Without a written assignment signed by the creator, you may have a licence to use the work and nothing more, which becomes a real problem during diligence, or when you want to modify it, or when the relationship goes bad.
Which one do you need
- A brand name, product name or logo. Trademark. See can I use this name before you commit to one.
- Written content, photography, music, video, code, artwork. Copyright, and register it if it has commercial value.
- A logo you paid someone to design. Both, plus a signed assignment of the copyright.
- A slogan. Trademark, if it functions as a brand rather than as ordinary advertising language. Not copyright.
Most businesses need both, protecting different assets, and the mistake to avoid is assuming that having one gives you the other. For how these sit alongside patents and trade secrets, see the four types of IP.