Online Incorporation MaxBlog

Sadly, many business owners fail to protect inventions or trade secrets. Down the road, they may find an unexpected competitor who is using methods you crafted or offers a product very similar to yours. Business owners often don’t think their company name, product or service is an asset but it is.

Obtaining a trademark is one way to protect these assets. A type of “intellectual property”, trademark’s basic concept is to prevent unfair competition. Patents and copyrights are the other types of intellectual property that mainly protect inventors, artists and literary writers.

While it isn’t mandatory to register a trademark to receive protection, registering with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Principal Register means more protection than the generic “common-law” designations.

Advantages of USPTO protections include:

• Notice to the general public of the registrant’s claim of ownership
• Registrant’s exclusive right to use the signature ® symbol nationwide on all goods and/or services listed in the registration
• Ability to bring legal action regarding the trademark in federal court
• Use a basis to obtain trademark registration in other countries
• Ability to file registration with the U.S. Customs Service to prevent foreign goods from being imported into the U.S.

The USPTO application process takes 10-12 months. While the application is processing, you may use the ™ symbol for trademarks and the symbol for service marks. You are not permitted to use the ® symbol until your product is listed as “registered” with the USPTO.

Current regulations require a trademark be renewed every 10 years.

Read some examples of trade secrets in the online incorporation knowledge center at MaxFilings.com. And once you are ready to form a corporation , do it easily online in 10 minutes or less, or fill out the forms, save and finish them at your convenience.

Many of the entrepreneur guides today recommend forming an advisory board…but a surprising number of entrepreneurs ignore this advice according to an interesting article by Mary Sullivan at the First Year blog.

It’s hard to know why entrepreneurs ignore this advice – perhaps they don’t understand the role of an advisory board or think they can find everything online. While there’s a lot of useful information on the Internet, nothing takes the place of advice specific to your situation.

At a minimum, an advisory board should include a legal and financial/tax advisor and any other area you lack the necessary experience to make your business run.

After incorporating online, you’re not likely going to have a large management team in place so a group of people to float ideas with and get their perspective. It’s best to meet as a group, usually each month.

In addition to advice, your advisors will pass your name along to their friends and business associates, giving you support at a critical time.

Read Mary’s article for more tips on forming an advisory board…and once you are ready to form a corporation, take care of it easily online in as short as 10 minutes at MaxFilings.com.

It’s not a pleasant thing to think about, but what would your employees do in the event of a disaster? Are mechanisms in place to keep things going even if you’re gone?

No matter your age, continue reading for important tips from small business blogger Denise O’Berry.

First off, when you consult with an attorney and accountant before incorporating online, make sure your affairs are in order should something happen to you…don’t forget about your will!

Next, have a small business operations manual that’s easily accessible and includes all the information needed to make your business run.

Finally, don’t forget about all those online passwords – keep a running master username/password list of online subscriptions, blogs, business accounts, etc.

When you incorporate online at MaxFilings, have these things in order before you even begin.

Easily locate an accountant and attorney through MaxFilings’ affiliate program!

Online incorporation service MaxFilings.com just announced new partnership/alliance opportunities for law firms that want to offer business incorporation services with little investment OR continue offering these services more cost-effectively.

MaxFilings is offering two different partnership levels – flexible solutions to meet the needs of law firms. One level – a law firm’s their client can exclusively deal with the firm while business incorporation professionals at MaxFilings handle the required paperwork. Or, the law firm can simply refer people to where they can easily form their corporation online using MaxFilings’ proven system.

Law firms will also be able to offer additional services to their clients like foreign qualification and registered agent.

Active participants in the program will also benefit from promotion of their business and website through MaxFilings’ partner company SEO Advantage.

For more information, visit http://www.maxfilings.com/partner.php.

But first, you have to identify what your trade secrets are in order to figure how safe they are and how to protect them.

Entrepreneurs who incorporate a small business online do not pay much attention a lot of the time to this necessary process – especially overlooking intangible assets that, understandbly so, may seem to not have much value but in the end can be exploited by competitors and ex-employees to their advantage.

A trade secret is secret information that can be considered intellectual capital and thus, protected under the law. Basically, any method, formula, device, process or any other information that is generally unknown and kept secret and gives a business a competitive edge qualifies as a trade secret.

Unfortunately, many business owners do not realize the value of these trade secrets until it’s too late and its use to their disadvantage by a competitor

The point is clear – small business owners need to recognize the value of their intangible assets  and take the steps to adequately protect trade secrets and prevent their unauthorized use as soon as possible.