I recently joined a trade group as an individual. The group asked what company I worked for and I told them. Then my company thought perhaps they may want to join the group, but because I joined the group, they cannot. They are interested because I have more motivation than they do and that is why I joined.
Someone in the trade group said I could put “Inc.” after my name and therefore call myself a businss. I would therefore be “Purple Person, Inc.” Is that legal? I was told that “Inc.” can be used in many different ways.
“Inc.” has a specific legal meaning and could get you in trouble if someone wanted to push the point.
You could set up “The Purple Person Company”; that would probably require a DBA (doing business as) form (somtimes calle a Fictitions Businss Name form) from your local county. I got one many years ago in order to set up a bank account. There was a small fee to set up the DBA, but it was pretty affordable (In Texas, the first state that came up in Google, the fee was $8.50 plus $1 for a copy).
Laws vary from state to state, but I think they’re generally similar. I’ve incorporated a few times here in Texas, and IIRC, it cost ~$100. It’s not a good idea to represent yourself as incorporated if you’re not. There are also Limited Liability Corporations now.
What RealityChuck suggested is the cheapest and easiest, if you just want to establish an entity. I’ve done that and it took about 15 minutes at the county courthouse.
Get hold of an attorney who handles business law in your jurisdiction. He’ll go through all the necessaries with you. Initial consultations are usually quite reasonably priced.
Inc. stands for incorporated. It implies certain things. For one, you purport to be a corporation and you will have to supply documentation that you are one (Certificate of Incorporation, By-Laws, and Good Standing Certificate) before entering into any contracts or agreements. You will also have to present Board Resolutions and Consents to undertake certain investments or enter into contracts and agreements.
While setting up a corporation is relatively painless financially, it may not be the most advantageous set up for what you intend to do. Bring the trade group’s documentation to an attorney and from that decide what kind of business set up would be proper.
You mean “trademarked,” not “patented.” Registering a trademark is actually a fairly complex process and part of it involves demonstrating that you are actually using that mark in connection with provision of goods or services in the marketplace. In other words, you can only have trademark protection if you are actually using it, not if you would just “like to use it in the future.” There is something called and “intent to use” application, but, again, you have to demonstrate that you are actually getting ready to use it in the marketplace.
It sounds to me like you really need to see a commercial lawyer. It’s not a good idea for you to take actions that may have legal consequences without knowing what those consequences might be.
There are tax consequences to incorporating, sometimes quite painful ones if you blunder your way through without setting up the proper corporate form. Also, sophisticated business entities may be less likely to do business with you because corporate form can be a way of shielding assets from creditors.
I don’t know Ohio law at all, but in most states the person you spoke to (who said you could just start referring to yourself as incorporated) would be wrong – as noted above, in most jurisdictions Inc. (as well as other indicia of incorporation) has a specific meaning defined by statute and it is illegal to refer to yourself as one type of business association when you are, in fact, another type (or no type at all).
One more idea, I just got from someone. They said I could use my made up shop name, print business cards and just call myself that in my mailings with the trade company. Sort of like someone picking a different name, but not really changing it legally.:dubious:
You can operate as a business. You just can’t claim to have a legal status that you don’t have. Above, someone suggested that you could call yourself the Purple Person Co. That’s fine. But as soon as you add “Inc.” or “Corp.” or “Ltd.” or “LLC” or any of those little abbreviations, then you’re claiming a status you don’t have. In any case, I don’t know what the liability or tax implications might be of operating as a non-incorporated business. I suspect there probably won’t be any, especially if you’re not actually conducting any business. But, I don’t know for sure.
That sounds really good. I will be PurplePersonPicturePlace and only frame for myself and no one else.
Yaaaaay! We figured it out. . . . I think. And it won’t compete with my real work place. I want to be supportive of the real shop, not try to take business away in a shifty manner.