Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: IPR Copyright and Trademark

Intellectual Property is the umbrella term for the field of law that covers copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets, (plus a few other related concepts).

Copyright law protects original works of expression, such as photos, films, songs, written works, etc., Protection is essentially automatic, once the work is created and "fixed" (i.e., written, recorded, etc) in some tangible medium.

Trademark law protects the distinctive name, word, mark, logo, symbol, etc. used to identify a particular product 'brand' and its source or origin.

From your question, it sounds like you have lots of copyright issues. First, the mexican calendars are likely protected by copyright, as are the photos themselves. So, you'll need consent from the owner before reproducing them.

Your pillows, will also be entitled to some copyright protection, but only against use of the same or strikingly similar designs... nothing you can do will prevent competitors from creating pillows with other calendar girl images, etc.

Registering your copyright is quite easy... just visit copyright.gov to find the proper forms and instructions. The website there also has lots of good publications and circulars about copyright.

Best of luck.