Business Law

If you are just starting your business, you may want to seek the advice of a licensed attorney. You have to be familiar with several business laws that you should follow. Business laws are addressing different legal matters depending on the type of business organizations. There are certain laws regarding how to properly form and run each type, which includes laws about entities such as corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies.

Business law is also known as the commercial law. Generally, it covers all of the laws concerning how to run and form a business including state and federal laws, as well as administrative regulations. It pertains to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and businesses engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales.  Some specific examples of this kind of law are titles as principal and agent; carriage by land and sea; merchant shipping; guarantee; marine, life, fire and accident insurance; bills of exchange and partnership. It also includes the regulation of corporate contracts, hiring practices, and the manufacture and sales of consumer goods. Thus, business law is considered to be a branch of civil law and deals with issues of both private law and public law. You have to be familiar with different types of law in order to start your business.

• Business entities

One of the aspects of business is the ownership. You need to choose the type of business structure that you wanted to have. It can be a limited liabilities company, C or S corporation, sole proprietorship, or partnership. If you want to be the sole owner of your business then it will be a sole proprietorship. On the other hand, if there are two or more owners, it is a partnership. Under the corporation entity, the business operates under the state law with its activity being limited by its contract. If you have a small business then you can only have a limited number of owners. However, the corporate taxes are waived so owners won’t suffer from ‘double taxation’. The limited liability corporation is a combination of partnership and corporation, where the operation is flexible and the income benefits are like partnership entity but it has limited liability exposure.

• Federal income taxes

After choosing the type of entity, you have to be familiar with the tax that your business needs to pay. The government imposes the federal income tax based on the annual income of individuals, companies, trusts, and other legal entities. All forms of earnings are applied to federal income tax including employment earnings or capital gains. In the U.S., the government imposes federal income tax plus income tax in most states. However, if you are lucky in your location, states like Texas and Florida require federal income taxes only in businesses.

• Intellectual property law

This is under the federal law, which involves the patents, copyrights, and trademarks of a business like a name and a logo. With the help of this law, it secures and enforces legal rights of the original creator or inventors for their inventions, designs, and artistic works.  Therefore, it protects the exclusive control of intangible assets.  In addition, this law ensures that the original creator can profit from their work that benefits the society without the fear of stealing by others. For the products in the market, the patents are given to the inventors for the right to use these or to gain profit by transferring the right to someone else. In order to protect symbols, names, and slogans that are used to identify products and services, the trademarks are given. Its main purpose is to help consumers to differentiate the brands from one another and prevent misleading advertisements. Lastly, the copyright is given for writings, music, motion pictures, architectural designs, and other original intellectual and artistic expressions. For unpublished works, it is still possible to produce a copyright since it was created by someone.

• Consumer protection law

You need to learn the rights of the consumer so you won’t get into trouble. In this law, it protects the individuals from abusive business practices because it holds them responsible for selling or providing products and services. People can file a lawsuit against companies that take advantage of consumer’s lack of information or trading authority. Moreover, it also involves the license or special permits that you will need for your business, and how you will advertise. This is under federal and state law. In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission is responsible for this task.