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| Legal or Loco If you are going to operate your own business, ensure you are in compliance with local laws regarding registration and licensing, usually at the county level for registration and state level for sales tax purposes. Decide on a business name beforehand, and if you use a name other than your personal name for your company, register a "fictitious name," normally with your state, and preferably the same name that you can use as a web domain name, along with a registration that allows you to collect and pay state sales tax for any local sales. Also understand the laws on trademarks. As an example, I have a legal company name, but used Blue Eagle Press as a publishing imprint, treating this as a trademark to uniquely identify my products and promotional materials, not as a legal company name. If your circumstances are at all complex, certainly seek the advice of qualified legal counsel, especially if you are considering a partnership or corporation as a legal entity. While all of this may seem a bit daunting, they are only the standard actions required of anyone doing business, and any community small business person can offer suggestions appropriate to your local circumstances, along with the representatives of many state and county government agencies. My local references (state and county tax laws, for example) are readily available on the Internet, scattered among my State and County departments of commerce, state, and revenue. And don't forget the Internal Revenue Service along with the many resources of the Small Business Administration, both great sources for the new and not-so-new small business. Compliance is always better than prosecution! The often misunderstood technical issues intertwined with the legal include ISBNs, copyright and Library of Congress card numbers, all explained on the ISBN page. Read the short comments on George Orwell to get a flavor of the issues surrounding the protection of intellectual property. Sadly, several author associates have found their eBooks illegally offered for sale (by someone else) on the internet. The copyright owners are in the process of suing for damages. Since they were properly copyrighted, they will win - money. It has been suggested that the following notice be posted on any website associated with your work: "NOTICE: This novel is protected under Copyright Registration with the United States of America. No part or portion of this work may be used for re-sell or re-print either digitally or in print format by ANY entity other than the legal publisher of this work listed above. Re- sell or re-print of this work may not be used without the written permission of the author AND the publisher or without full monetary compensation of the work to both the author and legal publisher. Any infringement upon this copyright will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If you have purchased this novel in a `re-sell packet', please inform the author and/or publisher." |