Your logo likely serves as a badge of origin for your business, and the best way to protect your logo is to register it as a trade mark with the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ). This will give you registered trade mark protection over your logo. However, you only gain this right once your trade mark registration application is successful. 

If you have been using your logo for a long time, it may qualify as an unregistered trade mark, and you may have some intellectual property rights in this case as well.

Once you own a trade mark registration, you are responsible for monitoring how it is used and protecting it against infringement. To make sure you get the best out of your protection, you need to be prepared to communicate your legal rights and, if necessary, defend your rights through legal action.

In addition, another form of intellectual property protection is copyright. In New Zealand, your original works are automatically protected to some degree by copyright. This intellectual property right can apply to a range of works, including:

As a graphic, your logo can classify as an artistic work, so you may have copyright protection. As copyright is also automatic,  you will not need to register your logo anywhere to obtain copyright protection. 

However, this does not offer comprehensive protection. For example, copyright does not prevent others from creating something similar to your work. It only protects the unique expression of ideas in your logo. Rather than relying solely on copyright protection, it is worthwhile to protect your logo through trade mark registration.

Importantly, it can be helpful to use the © symbol to show that you are claiming copyright in your work, but this is not essential. Additionally, the law provides owners of a copyrighted work with the right to control who may use or profit from their creations for a certain period.