Copyright/Trademark protection. What is in violation.

I am starting a web business and need to know if i will be in violation of Copyright/Trademark laws. If i create original works (myself being the author and creator and having copyrighted these works) and within said works i use references to protected items? Such as M&M's, for example, in a recipe for cookies?? Please help.

[AFFA]

I wish to inform you that if the work is an original creation of yours then you may copyright it. In this regard, if the work involves work of some other person then the context in which it is written is to be seen. In this,
if you are making a reproduction of work of some other person then that will be a copyright infringement.

AFF

Understandable. but is using the term M&M's in a recipe that i intend to sell as a download, a trademark violation?? i know i cant use the visual logo, but it is ok to reference the product?
Thank you for your time, i appreciate it.....

[amberjoe]

Yes I agree, for Trademark registration or usage one must have unique content or somewhat unique if the content is the same then it might is coming under some different trademark and thus can lead to trademark infringement. See more on here:

http://www.trademark-sentinel.com/blog/check-the-status-of-your-trademark-application/