Starting a business is a challenging and exciting life event. You have to figure out what you will call yourself and what hours you will work. You have to decide what type of advertising you will do and how many employees you will need. If you have a brick-and-mortar business, you will have to find a place from which to operate.
An intellectual property lawyer from Greenberg & Lieberman, LLC can help you set up your business, run it, and even close it down or sell it when the time comes. If you have an original product, we can help you with patenting. We can make sure your business name, logo, and advertising slogans are fully trademarked. We can help you select and purchase domain names as well as protecting your rights on the internet. We are well-versed in business law in every state in the country.
Setting Up Your Business
When you set up your business, you will have to register it with the state in which you will operate. You will have to select the type of entity your business will operate as. We can advise you as to the type of entity you should use. Your options include:
- Sole Proprietorship
- Limited Liability Corporation
- Corporation
- Partnership
We are business lawyers who are focused on giving small businesses a great start. We can write contracts for you and advise you on signing contracts with other companies.
Patent Law
If you have invented an amazing product, you will need to get a patent on that product. Getting a patent is not an easy task. Our Intellectual property law firm can help you every step of the way. To apply for a patent, you will have to take several steps. You must:
1. Find out if you have a patentable idea.
Processes, machines, manufactured items, and compositions of matter are all patentable. You can also get a patent for improvements to an existing design, or an asexually reproduced plant. You must have a novel idea that is not the kind of thing that obviously would have been invented eventually.
2. Find out if the idea has been publicly disclosed.
If anyone has had the same idea as you and put it out in a public forum, you will not be able to get a patent. You may not have disclosed your idea in a public forum. Finding out this information involves hours of research. Fortunately, our law office is staffed with paralegals and legal assistants who can do the necessary searches for you.
3. Figure out the type of patent you need.
There are three different types of patents; utility, design, and plants. Most patents are given for utility. However, you will need a design patent if you have invented a new look for a product.
4. File the paperwork.
You will then have to file the paperwork. The fee varies by the kind of patent you want and the size of your business. However, the minimum fees start at $130 for a small business entity. If you make any mistakes, you may have to reapply. We will make sure your paperwork is filled out perfectly the first time.
Greenberg & Lieberman, LLC can help you if your patent is denied or if your patent is challenged by another party. We can argue on your behalf before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. We will work tenaciously to prove that you deserve to have your invention recognized as original and protected.
Trademarks
You have worked hard starting your business and you want potential customers and clients to associate your name with quality and great service. You paid plenty of money for an artist to design your logo and you paid an advertising agency to come up with a slogan. A trademark can protect these things.
Trademarks are often misunderstood. When a person comes up with a name, design, or slogan for their company, it is technically their trademark. They can even put a little ™ next to the name to drive home the idea that they own that particular word, phrase, or design. However, it will not be fully protected until it is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. You can register your trademark at a state level, but then your company will not be protected in other states.
Once you have registered your name with the federal government a small ® can appear next to your company name. It will tell people not to try using your company name.
The process for getting a trademark is fairly straightforward. You just have to make sure no one else has the name and then fill out an application. However, it is important to fill out the application correctly. In many cases, a company with a similar name or logo design may try to prevent you from getting your trademark.
If you try to trademark a phrase, such as an advertising slogan, you may be rejected if it is too generic. For example, if your product is bar soap and you use the slogan, “It will get you clean,” you may be denied a trademark.
If you are denied a trademark, we can represent you in an appeal hearing. If someone tries to use your trademarked name or if they try to use a name that is very similar to your name or logo, we can help you object to their trademark or sue them on your behalf.
In some cases, a company may try to trademark a business name or slogan with no intention of using that name for business purposes. They may do this for purposes of revenge or extortion. This is not legal and we will work tirelessly to prevent this from happening to any of our clients. Our attorneys have years of experience in negotiation and civil litigation.
Domain Names
You can’t have a business nowadays without a website. When you set up your company website, you will have to buy what is called a domain name. In most cases, a company will want its domain name to be the same as its business name. For example, if a business was named Smith’s Welding, its website would be Smithswelding.com. In some cases, it may benefit a company to have a domain name that describes what the company does such as weldingindenver.com.
Small business lawyers can tell you that legal issues regarding websites spring up all the time. Companies that own a domain name will often incorrectly believe that the domain name ownership trademarks the company. This is not necessarily the case. You may buy a domain name only to have another person or company come along and trademark the name.
However, if someone purchases a domain name with a trademarked name in it, the company that owns the trademark can demand that they give the domain up. A person or company may purchase a trademarked name in innocence, or they may be guilty of cybersquatting.
Cybersquatting takes place when someone buys a domain name with the intention of harming a business. For example, if a person wanted to hurt the Coca-Cola company sales, and Coke did not own its website domain name, the person could buy Cocacola.com just to prevent them from using it or to create a website that would scandalize Coke. Fortunately, there are laws that govern the way people conduct business in this country. If you are a victim of cybersquatting, we can help you fight against domain name theft.
There are other situations in which two companies may be running completely legitimate businesses with the same name. One person may have bought a domain name and paid for it for the next two years. The other person may have trademarked the name but not thought to purchase the domain name. If the company that owns the domain name bought that domain name before the other company trademarked the name, it would present a complicated problem.
Our law firm houses business attorneys who have handled every kind of web domain dispute. If someone is using a domain name to which you feel entitled or one that would be beneficial to your business, we can negotiate with the person who owns it and arrange to buy it. We can sue them if it becomes necessary.
Mediation
Many different types of disputes can arise when you are in business. Business partners may break up and need a mediator. You may have shareholder disputes. We can provide conflict resolution if you need it. Our attorneys have acted as mediators in many different cases.
The Washington DC Business Attorneys for You
Our business attorneys are very experienced in negotiations and litigation. We work with new businesses regularly. Our services include writing employment agreements, resolving business disputes, and writing and reviewing contracts. We are a boutique agency that focuses on small businesses.
We can help you with every kind of legal matter from trade secrets to commercial transactions and issues pertaining to human resources. We can help you with all aspects of running a small business. We are conveniently located in Washington, D.C.. Give us a call today for your free consultation.