What legal protection can you use to protect a product design?

I'm specifically referring to an electric guitar body design. Can that be protected by trademark, copyright, or patent? What's the difference between the three?

What legal protection can you use to protect a product design?
You need a patent.





A copyright is for a written work.





A trademark is for an advertising slogan.





---Yes, you want a "design patent".


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_pate...





Also, in order for something to be "patenable", it must:





be of patentable subject matter, ie a kind of subject-matter that is eligible for patent protection,





be novel (i.e. at least some aspect of it must be new),





be non-obvious (in United States patent law) or involve an inventive step (in European patent law); and





be useful (in U.S. patent law) or be susceptible of industrial application (in European patent law).





So as long as your design does not already have a patent, and it is not an obvious design (say, like a lightning bolt), you should be O.K.