If the copyright in Ireland is actually for the blazon and not the exemplification, that further supports my point, not yours, unless what you want to copyright are the words. US copyright law protects the picture. The actual drawn image. The exemplification. If I paint your arms and draw a different helmet, a different style of mantling, put the motto on a different kind of scroll, those changes could be enough of a difference to make my illustration not a copyright infringement. The law considers the whole of the illustration, not the arms or crest in any sort of heraldic context. If it were as simple as you suggest, I'd be shouting my hallelujahs to the heavens. It's not like I want what I am arguing to be the case. Far from it.

If you were to trademark your arms (yes, you can trademark an exemplification of your arms), that protection is only good for what you put on your application. If you put "Armorial Advisor" as the service for which you are using your arms as a logo then that is where the limit of your protection lies - the act of providing armorial advice. That is my point. Not to mention, what is protected is the particular exemplification that you submit. So the later painting you paid John Ferguson to paint. It's not protected.

It would appear I am due a refund.