Starting a website/business comes with some baggage that can be quite difficult to carry, especially for individuals who have little to no experience with the many legal elements of starting a business. Due to a limited budget I was forced to tackle some pretty daunting tasks on my own. One of the more difficult tasks was protecting our business through the registration of a trademark. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) can be an intimidating entity. They possess the power to approve or deny your trademark registration which, if denied, could end up costing you more than just large sums of money. Through research, attention to detail, and the drive to reach your goal, registering your own trademark isn’t a pipe dream; it can be done.

Of course utilizing an attorney for your trademark registration is always the safest choice if you have the thousands of dollars to cover the cost. However, I’m willing to bet there are a lot of startups out there that simply can’t afford the added burden to their pocket book. If you’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t afford an attorney this article was written for you and will hopefully provide you with an overview of the entire process of registering a trademark.

Even with the absence of an attorney you still need to be prepared to pay $350.00 – $1,500.00 for the USPTO filing fees. There is a reason the cost can vary so much; it depends on how many classes you need to register. At the time this article was written the fee/charge per class was $325.00 (Please follow the second link below to find the current fee schedule). A class or more specifically classification is used to identify the goods or services that correspond to your trademark/business. Some businesses offer goods or services that can’t be adequately covered by just one class, this is when the costs can really add up. It should also be noted that a trademark can also be considered a service mark depending on the type of business for which the mark is being registered. (more…)

The Trademark Process Explained

Ideally, an attorney should handle your trademark registration. Unfortunately money doesn’t grow on trees so your only option may be to register the trademark on your own. Even if you complete this task on your own be prepared to pay between $350.00 – $1,500.00 for the USPTO filing fees. There is a reason the cost can vary so much; it depends on how many classes/categories you need to register. At the time this article was written the fee/charge per class/category was $325.00 (Please follow the second link below to find the current fee schedule). As you can see, at $325.00 registering a trademark can get very pricey. It should also be noted that a trademark can also be considered a service mark depending on the type of business for which the mark is being registered. (more…)

If you want your website to stand out and be easily recognizable then you will need to consider a custom logo to go along with the unique domain name you have already registered. Once again there are multiple options for getting this done. There are numerous companies online who offer custom logos for a flat rate. These companies usually allow for a certain amount of revisions and offer a multitude of guarantees. I personally chose a different route so I can’t comment on this from personal experience, but I can tell you that I would be very uneasy trusting my information with a company I knew very little about.

It is quite possible that your web developer could design a custom logo and if he/she is comfortable doing so then that is likely the best path to take. However, programs like Adobe Illustrator are very complex and creating high quality vector illustrations is truly an art, as is creating websites, so it is easy to understand why a developer could be brilliant in html, php, mysql, etc… and not be a jedi master in illustration. I mentioned vector illustrations for a particular reason; if you’re planning ahead they are a must. Once again I am not an expert but vector images/illustrations can be blown to any size without losing image quality. This would be ideal for billboards, signs, etc… for the future marketing of your website. This is different from jpeg’s and gif’s because to increase the size of those images you actually have to zoom in, which is what causes the picture quality to diminish and what creates the digitizing effect you get.

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What Kind of Server? Linux, Windows, Shared, Dedicated, VPS?

After the WDA had been signed and the details had been thoroughly discussed the developer started work on photo shop comps of the website while I began a new journey; the quest for a server. Being so green when I started this project I actually thought you could successfully run a social network on a shared hosting plan. Well, in theory you could for a short time, but I wasn’t looking to run a website short term. I needed some room for growth and the last thing I wanted was a server to crash after launching.

Shared hosting plans are very affordable and for a small blog are ideal but when you are looking for high amounts of traffic the option isn’t even an option, it’s dedicated. Sadly enough even a dedicated machine won’t keep you online for long if you see rapid growth; at some point load balanced servers will be a necessity. This was probably the biggest jaw dropper for me; how can I afford $200 – $500 a month on a server? Actually the better question is how could I afford not to? (more…)

Legal Concerns – A Summary

I’m going to take a couple of steps backwards to explain a certain necessary evil. With websites and social networks in particular there are a lot of legal issues that should be addressed. When I say necessary evil what I really mean is attorneys. They have what you need and without them you’ll be lost. Sure, you could sign up for a website and steal their legal documents, alter them a bit, but then pose the risk for being sued for copyright infringement. This isn’t the only legal risk websites create for their owners; there are countless others.

Before you even think about starting work on the project you need to have access to two very important documents. The first is known as an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) which needs to be signed by anyone you decide to discuss the details of your idea with. (more…)

After quickly realizing this website was far beyond anything I could do with any kind of html editors, I started requesting quotes from multiple web design firms online by providing a generic description of what I was hoping to achieve. The results were mind blowing, ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 with the sky being the limit. This was almost a dream crusher for me but due to the recommendation from one of the firms I emailed I began looking into to pre-made scripts; an example would be phpfox.

Before I go into my hypothesis on scripts I feel it is important to offer a bit of advice. This may seem like a bit of common sense, and really it is, but it could be overlooked: Protect yourself and your intellectual property. (more…)