Protect and Defend Your Business!

Patents and Entities

You’ve brainstormed the business name, you’ve done a search and secured your domain, your logo captures  your vision. What’s next? Yes, there is more to business than just a name. It’s time to protect your company and prepare for doing business as. Here is some food for thought from the experts in their field.

Filing a Patent

Do you need to file a patent for business intelligence, a name/phrase or logo? Too may business ignore this step and it could jeopardize your company’s legal status. Here are some words of wisdom from my attorney, Walter Messick:

The “branding” of a new business is protected by trademark law. My advice to clients who want to start a business is to make sure the brand they select, represented in the logo, corporate name, fictitious name, etc is distinguishable from other corporate names in the state where the company will be formed and is not: 1) already the brand of someone else who sells similar goods/services or 2) associated with undesirable people or businesses.

If your business crosses state lines you may be able to get a federal trademark registration, which would keep people from starting to sell similar goods/services using that brand (it won’t let you make people already using the brand to stop). If your business is in one state, you can obtain a state trademark registration. Registration has advantages but trademark rights arise from the mark. Don’t use an ® unless your trademark has been registered.

Benefits of a Patent

A patent protects designs, utilities (processes, machines, or a new and useful improvement to an existing process/machine). The application process is complicated and somewhat expensive. However, if you’re able to obtain a patent you essentially have a 20 year monopoly on its use in commerce.

A copyright protects original works of authorship (ex. website content). Similar to trademarks, registration has advantages but copyrights arise at the time of creation. You can use © even if you haven’t registered the copyright.

If your business engages independent contractors to create intellectual property, it’s important to include language in their agreement making it clear that the intellectual property belongs to the company.

Your Business Entity

Now that you have your branding protected, the next step is doing due diligence on what type of entity best suits your needs. There are multiple types of business entities. Incorporated, S Corp, Limited Liability Company (LLC), Professional Limited Liability Company (PLLC) and Single Member LLC. Some of the facts to consider for each type are as follows:

  • Creating a layer of protection for your personal assets
  • Type of control held by each member
  • Tax structure and paying taxes
  • The structure of the operations and administration of those rules
  • Personal flexibility

On top of those, there are rules for processing payroll for the owners and other considerations when choosing or not choosing to have a partner…..

But that will be for another blog!

Here is Walter’s contact information messickw@galvanmessick.com

Let him know that Christine sent you!

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