Legal Question in Business Law in New Jersey

I'm not sure I fully understand your question, but I think you are asking how you can protect the name under which you do business? This is your trademark and it can be your business name, your domain or both, for example, Google.

Your trademark will be one of if not the most important and valuable business assets you will have and you will spend more money in support if it than you will anywhere else (advertising, marketing, PR, branding, packaging, etc.). So you owe it to your business and yourself to make sure you handle this properly and the first order of business starts with a comprehensive clearance.

Whenever you endeavor into investing in a TM it is very important that you conduct the proper clearance due diligence upfront and before you start spending any money in support of it or submit an application to the USPTO. In the US, this means searching under both federal (USPTO) as well as common law because TM rights stem from use in this country NOT registration. This means that acquiring a federal registration does not necessarily mean that you are not infringing on another's intellectual property. See the links0 below:

http://smallbusiness.m.foxbusiness.com/quickPage.html?page=20969&content=26793940&pageNum;=-1

http://www.lanternlegal.com/trademark_due_diligence.php

http://www.lanternlegal.com/test_trademark.php

It would be most helpful for you to call around to several TM lawyers and get a sense for what's involved before you pull the trigger and stay away from non-lawyer business like legal zoom that are essentially peeing on your leg and telling you its raining as that can end up costing you much more on the back end should things not work out as planned and believe me that happens often.

If you would like to discuss further over a free phone consult, feel free to contact me anytime that is convenient.

Our firm is referred by the American Bar Association (see under the NY section):

http://www.americanbar.org/groups/delivery_legal_services/resources/programs_to_help_those_with_moderate_income.html

Kind regards,

Frank

www.LanternLegal.com

866-871-8655

[email protected]

DISCLAIMER: this is not intended to be specific legal advice and should not be relied upon as such.

First, you should have a good tax and business lawyer form a Limited Liability Company. You can register your domain name (minus the ".com") as an alternate name. This will enable you to trade as both names.

Good luck in your new business!

Ron Cappuccio

Both responses offer good advice. Registering with the State as a LLC (Limited Liability Company) gives you some name protection in that in most instances another person cannot use that name or form a business entity using that name in the same state. This does not mean that people will not try if you have an exiting name. Trademarking will give you better protection, but itself does not always give you name exclusivity.

A one-person LLC does not have to file a separate return from their personal one, so tax reporting is just as simple as not using a LLC at all.

Need further information, call or email me to discuss this without charge.