NationStates Jolt Archive

I am thinking about starting my own company in America.
I have an appointment with the American Embassy in my country and I guess all my questions will be answerd there but I would like to know the basics of your system in this regard.
Do you own your own company?
Where do you register a name?
Where do you register a logo?
Where do you go or who do you contact to get your work protected?
What kind of taxes do you pay?

Just all that you can think of that has to be done to start your own company and protect your work by law.
Post what you know.

EDIT: I should have said what kind of company and were. It's a production company (as in film production) and it should be registerd in California as that is where i'm going.

Thank You.

I would say you need to contact an appropriate business association, and a lawyer. In america, any time the question is about the law, the answer is to ask a lawyer. Period.

As for owning the company, you can, or you can have a board of directors. You're probably looking at a sole proprietorship, at least initially. As for taxes, that depends on so much.... You should probably have a good idea which state you'd like to open up shop it. Setting up shop in a heavily regulated state such as New York or California might be significantly more complicated that a less regulated state such as Nevada or Virginia.

On registering intellectual proptery, google-fu (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22registering+a+trademark+site%3Agov&btnG=Google+Search) is the answer grasshopper.

Good luck starting your won company (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=starting+a+business+site%3Agov&btnG=Search).

This is a simple one to answer. I have started several companies that are under Deleware state law. Which is the only one i would recomend other than a Nevada corp. You can go through the Company Corporation to do it. Google that name and it will take you to the web page. Good luck.

I am thinking about starting my own company in America.
I have an appointment with the American Embassy in my country and I guess all my questions will be answerd there but I would like to know the basics of your system in this regard.
1. Do you own your own company?
2. Where do you register a name?
3. Where do you register a logo?
4. Where do you go or who do you contact to get your work protected?
5. What kind of taxes do you pay?

Just all that you can think of that has to be done to start your own company and protect your work by law.
Post what you know.

Thank You.
1. I use to.

2. If you're going to incorporate, that's done by the individual State. The best State in which to incorporate ( regardless of where in the US you live, not sure about foreign registration ) is Delaware, since they have the easiest process and probably the lowest taxes.

3. We call it a Trademark: http://www.uspto.gov/teas/

4. If you hold a patent, registering it with either the patent office in your own country or the US patent office should suffice. If you don't have a patent, there really is no way to "protect" your work. If your work is written, simply getting it independently verified before you publish it ( or sell it ) is sufficient to prove copyright; technically, anything you write is copyrighted as soon as you write it, but there are practicial things like proving that it's yours.

5. In the US, you pay corporate taxes on all corporate income, and personal income tax on the salary you draw. I'm not sure how that works internationally.

For a film production company, try North Carolina, it has the second biggest film industry and none of the nit-picking rules and High taxes of CA

Yup Delaware is the best. Many companies are based there...or their address is there. Although, I would suggest not trying us, because International companies have been having lots of problems lately...specifically with fat chinese executives trying to get to other executives...what a threat! :rolleyes:

2. If you're going to incorporate, that's done by the individual State. The best State in which to incorporate ( regardless of where in the US you live, not sure about foreign registration ) is Delaware, since they have the easiest process and probably the lowest taxes.

I don't know about that. Alaska still has no income or sales tax. We run the entire state off of oil royalties and a few taxes (like tabacco) and fees. I'm not sure, but I think that there is no corporate income tax here either. Then again, this might not be the best place to run a fiilm company.

I am thinking about starting my own company in America.
I have an appointment with the American Embassy in my country and I guess all my questions will be answerd there but I would like to know the basics of your system in this regard.
Do you own your own company?
Where do you register a name?
Where do you register a logo?
Where do you go or who do you contact to get your work protected?
What kind of taxes do you pay?

Just all that you can think of that has to be done to start your own company and protect your work by law.
Post what you know.

EDIT: I should have said what kind of company and were. It's a production company (as in film production) and it should be registerd in California as that is where i'm going.

Thank You.

Screw your workers over and fuck up the whole damn economy and you'll be well on your way to being a successful corporate scumwad!

Screw your workers over and fuck up the whole damn economy and you'll be well on your way to being a successful corporate scumwad!
Yeah, that's close to right. Raping the environment and sending gift baskets woven with $100 bills to the right politicians helps too. :P
Our system is a beautiful thing, but only if you play it like a cheap fiddle.

Yeah, that's close to right. Raping the environment and sending gift baskets woven with $100 bills to the right politicians helps too. :P
Our system is a beautiful thing, but only if you play it like a cheap fiddle.


Screw your workers over and fuck up the whole damn economy and you'll be well on your way to being a successful corporate scumwad!

Dont listen to Karl and Vladimir here its not as bad as they're making it out to be. (even if it is in jest) But the key to running a sucessful company in America is to, 1) be smart, 2) get a good lawyer, and 3) make sure you know what you're getting yourself into.

Dont listen to Karl and Vladimir here its not as bad as they're making it out to be. (even if it is in jest) But the key to running a sucessful company in America is to, 1) be smart, 2) get a good lawyer, and 3) make sure you know what you're getting yourself into.

It was totally in jest. I guess I should have written [/sarcasm] or something. My father operates a California-registered nonprofit corporation, and as far as I could tell, the process was fairly straightforward.

The advice that everyone else has given about getting a good lawyer and keeping your wits about you is totally spot on. Just like establishing business anywhere, the lawyer is the key and will be able to assist you in many different aspects of setting up your enterprise.

I'm sure the embassy in Reykjavik provided you with a lot of this info already, though. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce may have something for foreign entrepeneurs as well. http://www.uschamber.com/ Unfortunately, they don't have an office in Iceland though I guess you could check out the sites for the rest of Scandinavia. They'd likely have some information of interest.

And remember to pay off the FBI.
Seriously, good luck.

It was totally in jest. I guess I should have written [/sarcasm] or something. My father operates a California-registered nonprofit corporation, and as far as I could tell, the process was fairly straightforward.

Argh. The bane of online conversations! Im speaking of course of the inability to express sarcasm through typed words.

Argh. The bane of online conversations! Im speaking of course of the inability to express sarcasm through typed words.
Hah. Yeah, online communication is simply no substitue for the real thing sometimes, no?

Anyway. I'm incredibly glad you're setting up shop in California. I didn't catch that part of your original post.