Business License, Copyright, trademark small online shops - help?

Question

Hi,
I'm planning to start a small online business in the baby category/event planning category. I'm starting off small. I may secure a domain that exemplifies the key product (i.e. www.onesies.com - just an example but not the product i'll be selling) I will be selling. In the future, I may expand it to another domain name that has more breadth (i.e. Myabcshop.com).

1. Do I need a business license to do this from home? I live in NY. Its only going to be myself no employees. I'm assuming that I would have to charge tax (and shipping) on orders, so i would need it or am i mistakend?

2. Do I copyright my website to ensure my product/images/copy is protected some how? Can competitors steal an idea or images I use that are part of my product if i don't?

3. Do I register the trademark of my business (i really thought my simple product would be it for now until i'm ready to branch out more)? I thought that maybe when I branch out more that this may be required, but for now not.

Answer 1

Congrats on going into business!

I'm in Wisconsin, the business license I got since I work out of my home (but it's not a store) is a mobile sellers permit, which cost $10 and automatically renews. Because I do a show in Pennsylvania I had to get one for there too, which cost me $15 and automatically renews for free each year. Check with your state as to what one you need.

Your city clerk will have info for you, but your state capital will be the one issuing your business license. You'll need to decide if you're a sole proprietor, a company of 2, or what. And you need a name before they can issue a license for you. I f you make money, they want taxes on it, so yes, you do need to be licensed. You'll need to charge tax on all purchases people make from you in your state (but not tax on anything bought that you send out of state).

Websites aren't copyrighted. Items you make that you designed and built should be. Your artwork is automatically copyrighted to you soon as it's shown to the public, but put the copyright symbol and the words on each page of your site. A paid copyright would have to be done on anything you designed specifically to sell, if you wanted full protection on it. All the info is over on the government site about copyrights.

Trademarks aren't as important, especially if you're just starting out. Once you're established, then if it's important to you as a symbol of your business you can do that. Trademarks are expensive, so that's something to think hard on first.

You can find quite a lot of good info if you do a search on the SBA site, on google.com for 'marketing articles' and such, but looking under 'work from home' only gets you child care instructions on how to keep kids and do work at home.