Business owners are often unaware that they have an effective tool for telling the world they own their trademarks and copyrights – simply use either the trademark symbol ™ or the copyright symbol ©.  This blog won’t attempt to explain all the nuances of trademark and copyright law, but understand that registration is not necessary to use those symbols.  The key to understand is that once you use your trade name, byline, slogan, logo, etc., you obtain some trademark rights to those.  Similarly, once you put your work in some sort of “fixed” media (e.g., paper, electronic), you have some copyright protection. Therefore, why not let the world know that you do have some rights by attaching trademark and copyright symbols to your trademarks and copyrighted materials.  Understand that mere use of these symbols does not give you the full panoply of rights you might get if you formally register those trademarks or copyrights, but it does provide a certain marketplace cache that is invaluable.