Domain Names are important Assets – Treat them Accordingly

Posted by on Jan 23, 2007 in Blog | 1 comment

Rumor has it that somebody should be fired at Google Germany, because he or she forgot to renew Google’s domain name.  Apparently, when you go to google.de (from a German location) you get a parked host site. Let that be a lesson to you and put in place an ironclad policy regarding your most important web asset.  This policy could contain not only notifiers about renewal action,...

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One good Reason for a Shareholders Agreement……..

Posted by on Jan 21, 2007 in Business Contracts, Starting a Business | 1 comment

….keeping control by restricting the transfer of shares. You, your best friend Jane and Jane’s cousin opened a store and online business selling luxury pet supplies under various brand names.  You run the business through a New York corporation.  Each of you has equal ownership in the corporation.  Everything goes well, your products get mentioned on Oprah and you grow...

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Dissolving a Mistake LLC

Posted by on Jan 18, 2007 in Limited Liability Companies, Starting a Business | 0 comments

Let’s say you formed an LLC, because all of your business friends did, but then it turns out it is really not the right form of business entity for you and your fellow founders.  You haven’t started doing business with the LLC, the LLC has no assets, no members, and you just want to make it go away and form a shiny new corporation with the same name.  What to do?  First...

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New York City’s Minority/Women Owned Business Enterprise Program – Has it helped your Business?

Posted by on Jan 14, 2007 in Blog | 1 comment

New York City has a Minority-Women-Owned-Business-Enterprise Program.  According to their website, the benefits of obtaining a certification under the program are that:     * Firms are listed in the NYC Online Directory of Certified Businesses, which is accessible to purchasing officers and contracting agencies, as well as private purchasers.  Our NYC Online Directory is...

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Naming your Business – Legal Issues to Consider

Posted by on Jan 12, 2007 in Starting a Business | 12 comments

Good post by Small Business 2.0 on the creative side of choosing a business name: 18 Pithy Insights into Naming your small Business. Here are a few points on the legal aspects of choosing a name for your New York business. First it is helpful to understand that "business name" can mean different things in the legal context.  It could mean the legal name of a business, the...

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What happens if I don’t file newspaper ads for my LLC?

Posted by on Jan 4, 2007 in Limited Liability Companies | Comments Off

A reader had this question in response to my post "Taking Care of the LLC Publication Requirement": If I own an LLC just to protect the company name and I don’t file the newspaper ads, is the only issue that I lose the ability to do business in NY? Yes, if you fail to publish and file the certificate of publication in the required time frame (120 days after formation), the...

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