Is there any way to copyright protect a phrase that you came up with?

Question

Is there any way to copyright protect a phrase that you came up with?

Answer

Assuming that the phrase you came up with is a "work of authorship," once you come up with it and fix it in a tangible form (such as writing it on a piece of paper or your computer's hard drive), it is already protected by copyright. The Copyright Office has this to say: "Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only the author or those deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright." For more information, see http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf.