legal, website, copyrightI have a domain and I know how to create sites, but what legal steps should I take to ensure my web business is successful?
I’m not sure if I should copyright or trademark my name. Also I just don’t know if I need to register my business saith any government agency or anything like that.
Edit
I am from the US specifically new Jersey, but I’d like my web business to operate anywhere in the US and eventually world wide.
You need to look at it from a small perspective first. Don’t blind yourself by success before you get there. Websites don’t need to have any kind of special license to operate, you just go on NetworkSolutions, GoDaddy, HostGator, etc and register for a domain and boom you are up and running. There are no restrictions on what you can do with your website until you talk about getting legal. So here is what you may need to know.
Design & Copyright: A lot of companies, especially online ones like to protect their assets and styles by registering their logos, colors and design as official trademarks for their company and theres only. If you use their design, code, colors or logos or other property - you could be sued and that’s not the kind of publicity you want for you company, especially if you eventually want to operate worldwide.
Patents: If you want to patent an invention or design for something materialistic you are going to need to register your patent request to the United States Patent Office (http://www.uspto.gov/) - they handle all patent requests. Now, much like registering a Trademark or Registered Trademark, it costs money. Those numbers come directly from the patent office themselves and are in no direct coronation to the size of your company.
Licenses: Once you get big (assuming you do), you are going to get licenses to operate around the country as different states have different rules and regulations when it comes to different things like shipping, taxes and other operating regulations. For example, you need a license to ship certain goods across the country, same goes for worldwide but thats later.
There are many things that can happen to your company if you do not follow rules and regulations later in the game, but that is what a legal team is for. They can help guide you along your journey and make sure your company will never be at risk of fruad, tax evasion, etc. They are also there to help you keep your ducks in a row so your business can run as smoothly as possible.
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