Protecting Your Business Legally

When you make the decision to establish a business, you’ll quickly find that you have quite a task cut out for you. Owning your own business, whether it’s a traditional brick and mortar or a web-based business, can be an incredibly rewarding venture but it’s not without its fair share of work.

Before you get down into the logistics of setting up your business, however, it’s vital that you take the proper legal steps to ensure that your business is both protected and in accordance with the law. 

For example, if you wanted to establish a contractor estimating software development firm, you would need to make sure that the name that you want for your business is not already legally protected by another entity.

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First Things First

It’s always best to start things off properly when you establish your business. In this way, you can avoid unnecessary complications later own. In naming your business, you’ll want to search the records of your secretary of state as well as those of the U.S. 

Patent and Trademark Office. This research will tell you if your proposed name is legal to use as well as if your logo idea is unique from that of other businesses.

Once you’ve got the naming of your business in order, you can file a statement with your county’s recorder. This should be the county in which your business is located, not the county in which you reside—unless, of course, you live in the same county as your business. You’ll also want to file your business name for a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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When you’ve completed these steps, your business name will be legally protected. That means that if anyone tries to register an identical or unduly similar name, his or her application will be rejected outright. Conversely, you should try to come up with a clever name that is not too similar to your competition lest your application be rejected.

Is This Really Necessary?

If you are a sole proprietor and simply consider yourself to be an independent contractor you may not need to take these steps unless you are trying to establish a brand for yourself. 

If you are operating under a “dba,” however, taking these steps could prove to be beneficial to you, especially if you register as a sole proprietor.

The IRS still sees you as a sole proprietor whether you technically own a business or not, so why not go ahead and get the legal protection as any other business? 

Once you have it, that’s one less step you’ll have to worry about if you ever do decide that you want to expand and become a larger entity. It’s certainly something worth considering.

Byline: Michael is a full-time blogger who has passions in all corners of the online world. In his down time he enjoys being outdoors, traveling, and blogging on everything from technology, to business, to marketing, and beyond.

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