Protecting my company,ideas, and designs, copyright, or LLC, or what do I do?
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This section of the forum is for discussing the business and finance issues of the t-shirt industry. Which business structure to use (sole proprietor, LLC, S Corp, etc), how to handle billing, where to register your business and get the proper licensing, etc.
Protecting my company,ideas, and designs, copyright, or LLC, or what do I do?
Protecting my company,ideas, and designs, copyright, or LLC, or what do I do?
I am starting my own clothing line of t-shirts and I want to protect my brand, all my ideas, designs, and company, how do I go about doing that? What is LLC and all of those types, and do I need to copyright?
Re: Protecting my company,ideas, and designs, copyright, or LLC, or what do I do?
Hello
to protect your designs you get a copyright that will cover all designs under your business name to avoid having to copyright every last design. the paperwork is simple and the cost is right around $35 the last time i checked, you can go to www.copyright.gov dowload the form and viola you are on your way.
Company Structures:
Incorporation is the easiest LLC means limited liabilty you may not need it if you don't have have employees or are performing hazardous work it protects your personal property if you are being sued or if a partner brings jeopardy to the company, sole proprietorship means everything is tied up in your name and if anything happens the money comes out of your pocket your assest can be liquidated. check with the Small Business Adminstration in your area or go online to www.sba.gov i think that is correct others may know more.
Re: Protecting my company,ideas, and designs, copyright, or LLC, or what do I do?
Copyright registration isn't essential but it's very useful. The rule of the land is you can't copyright an idea but if you put that idea on paper it's automatically copyrighted, the problem with that is it's hard to prove that you came up with it first. Don't do the poor man's copyright, mailing it to yourself and not opening it, because it won't wold up in court. One way to do it is to email it to yourself because that can't be faked but still a copyright is the surest way to be protected and pretty cheap if you have a bunch of art you can register it in a group. $35 for a protection is cheap!
Re: Protecting my company,ideas, and designs, copyright, or LLC, or what do I do?
Emailing it to yourself will not hold up in court either because they can be faked as well. I had a close friend that tried that route and in court the judge stated that by having the necessary paperwork filied with the property authorities is the only way to protect his interests.
Keep in mind that this was they way that this particular judge ruled on this particular case but if you are concerned about protecting your business this can only be assured by filing for copyright.
Veedub3
Also, you may want to check with a lawyer for further direction.
This is a discussion about Protecting my company,ideas, and designs, copyright, or LLC, or what do I do? that was posted in the Business and Finance section of the forums.
Protecting my company,ideas, and designs, copyright, or LLC, or what do I do? 
