Your Own Company

Pantcho!! · Post by **Pantcho!!** » Mon May 16, 2005 11:58 am

Hey Guys, i wanted to ask you an important thing!

when you sell software do you have to own a company?
i mean if i do a piece of software and people buy it trought the web
i MUST have a registered company right?
people told me it depends on the country you live but i am not sure.

and how about copyrights? everyone that makes a proggie says "tradmark copyright bla bla" do they just invent that or what?!
i am a little confused, like if i have a software i did and i want to sell it and have it COPYRIGHTED ... how does that works?
aother thing, if i have a website and i put on banners and i get money as a webmaster , should the money i get is black money or what? becuase
here in Israel (where i live

) i've been told that in the Legel way in the law you have to own a company to receive any money that you get for services you provide (banner clicks... ).

so it will be nice if you all post how you got your own copyright and what is the process in your country to receive the privilige.

thank you , looking forward to hear your toughts and experience.

El_Choni · Post by **El_Choni** » Mon May 16, 2005 12:28 pm

I'm also interested in this.

Progi1984 · Post by **Progi1984** » Mon May 16, 2005 1:04 pm

Post by **Fred** » Mon May 16, 2005 1:25 pm

In France you have to pay taxe for every income which are buisness related, so you just can't sell a product without registering a company (and then pay the taxes, you got it

). Well, it's not applicable for very low revenue (for shareware, if it doesn't sell too much for example).

PB · Post by PB » Mon May 16, 2005 1:28 pm

In Australia you're supposed to pay 10% of every sale to the Government.
I don't know if you need to set up a company, though. I think you don't
have to if your earnings are less than X per year, or something like that.

tinman · Post by **tinman** » Mon May 16, 2005 1:45 pm

In the UK you do not need to set up a company (IIRC), but you need to fill in a tax self-assessment at the end of the year and declare how much money you made. Usually if you were employed and that was your only income, the company would do this for you.

Again, copyright laws depend on where you live. I think in the EU there are common copyright laws but I might be wrong. Anything you write is automatically copyrighted to you, since you wrote it. Copyright only restricts the physical act of copying, so it's not the be all and end all but good to have. To be able to claim it you need to have the copyright symbol, year and person marked on it somewhere.

Not sure about trademarks, but they're different again. Trademarks are usually used to identify a company from a symbol or such. Hence is why you never see two companies with the same trademarked symbol. I think there is a further level, to be able to register your trademark but I don't know what this allows.

DarkDragon · Post by **DarkDragon** » Mon May 16, 2005 1:52 pm

In germany you can earn 625 € a month. Then you just need to pay 16%(IIRC) and you have to log all sells and owns. If you get over that you have to own a company.

Karbon · Post by **Karbon** » Mon May 16, 2005 6:07 pm

Consult a local lawyer (or what ever it's called over there!). Don't take anyone's word for anything, especially those that don't live where you do!

ricardo · Post by **ricardo** » Mon May 16, 2005 6:10 pm

Only for tax pourposes you may need it. But as Fred sais, for shareware usually even for this is dont needed.

For all the publishing, selling, charging $, etc. you DONT need it at all.

You can upload you software to main software sites, work with companies that manage credit card stuff (swreg, shareit, regnow, paypal, etc) and do all the proccess without being a company.

Num3 · Post by **Num3** » Mon May 16, 2005 7:06 pm

Here in Portugal you can do it in two ways:

a) register a company, have an accountent , etc.
b) fill out a special form when you make your taxes (intelectual properties revenue)

Both ways you gotta pay

Pimps...

A program you make is always your Intelectual Propertie, but Copyrights, means you own the rigths of copy & sales over something you own / made / bought.

Trademarks have to registered & payed for.

Num3 · Post by **Num3** » Mon May 16, 2005 7:08 pm

ricardo wrote:You can upload you software to main software sites, work with companies that manage credit card stuff (swreg, shareit, regnow, paypal, etc) and do all the proccess without being a company.

Yes, but by the law you should declare those incomes.

ricardo · Post by **ricardo** » Mon May 16, 2005 9:06 pm

Num3 wrote:
ricardo wrote:You can upload you software to main software sites, work with companies that manage credit card stuff (swreg, shareit, regnow, paypal, etc) and do all the proccess without being a company.
Yes, but by the law you should declare those incomes.

Yes, but can be an individual, not a company.

Doobrey · Post by **Doobrey** » Mon May 16, 2005 11:57 pm

Karbon wrote:Consult a local lawyer (or what ever it's called over there!). Don't take anyone's word for anything, especially those that don't live where you do!

Ditto, what Karbon said..There's too many differences around the world to get a straight answer here.

Also, it might be worth consulting an accountant too. You might think it unneccessary, but it'll cost less than than any penalty you might get for messing up your tax return.

One golden rule.. keep records and receipts of everything, and check how long you need to keep them for (Here in the UK, we have to keep them for at least 5 years)

Shannara · Post by **Shannara** » Tue May 17, 2005 1:06 am

In the USA, it depends on your state. Up here in Alaska, if you are making any kind of income that is not from your "day job", such as if you are selling items (virtual or not), you must have at least a business license or a DBA. However, that subjects you to all sort of personal legal problems if the wrong person comes along and decides to destroy your business though court. So another option (and best IMO) is an S-Corp or a C-Corp. I, personnally have an S-Corp so to bypass the double-taxation since Alaska has no personal tax

.

The cost to form a Corp is minimal (a few hundred at the most), and the legal safeguards are enormous. Plus, it is alot easier to get credit, accounts, build status if you run a Corp.

Copyrights is a funny thing, it depends on your country. Again, I live in the USA so .... anything that you make is automatically copyrighted. However, if someone is making a clone of your product or the like, you must register your copyright with the copyright office (http://www.copyright.gov). Then you can take them to court for damages.

You do not need to have a company to copyright a product, software, or otherwise. It can be copyrighted in your name. And copyrighting is very, very cheap.

Trademark is a whole new ballgame. And generally for high corporations with lots of monies since the USA government is pro-big money corp, and anit-citizens.

However, I noticed you live in Isreal, so what I say above have no value there, ergh! You will probably have to consult your local government website or office.

Pantcho!! · Post by **Pantcho!!** » Tue May 17, 2005 9:59 am

thanks guys for replying i will sure check with a local acountent and seee how it works! thanks for all of you replying

regarding shareware, i can sell it with no problems?