Questions on the legality of Boopie-making (more of a tax question)

Pib

Goddess
Jan 1, 2002
3,668
20
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www.dominicancooking.com
I am very good at making boopies. One day a friend comes home and tries my boopies and loves it. The word spreads out and soon lots of people want to try my boopies. I start making and selling boopies from home and soon after I am making some money on it. I then realize that I could make a living out of boopie-making. To protect my fledging business I would like to trademark the word Boopie, and since I want to sell them under the brand Heavenly Boopies I would also like to trademark that.

Some questions:
* Can I as an individual trademark names? Or do I have to do it under a company's name?
* Can I do business, enter contracts, etc. as a private person and get legal recognition?
* If a falling piano hit me on the head, rendering me completely insane, and I wanted to pay income taxes, could I do it under my own name? Or do I have to have a company to do it?
* Can I be registered somewhere as a tradeperson even if I am engaged in a money-making activity that is not considered intellectual (such as writing or painting)?
 

MaineGirl

The Way Life Should Be...
Jun 23, 2002
1,879
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amity.beane.org
I do not have any of the answers here but I just wanted to say I justed finished baking 65 (yes, 65) WHOOPIE pies, and now that I am done I am ready to start a business, and "Boopies" sounds like a great name for the damn things. So, better get it legal quick, cause I am gonna steal it ;).

MG

ps Whoopie pies are like oreo cookies, but fresher, and much bigger--two chocolate cookies with cream filling in the middle, a Maine staple year-round!
 

RHM

Doctor of Diplomacy
Sep 23, 2002
1,660
30
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www.thecandidacy.com
Pib said:
I am very good at making boopies. One day a friend comes home and tries my boopies and loves it. The word spreads out and soon lots of people want to try my boopies. I start making and selling boopies from home and soon after I am making some money on it. I then realize that I could make a living out of boopie-making. To protect my fledging business I would like to trademark the word Boopie, and since I want to sell them under the brand Heavenly Boopies I would also like to trademark that.

Some questions:
* Can I as an individual trademark names? Or do I have to do it under a company's name?
* Can I do business, enter contracts, etc. as a private person and get legal recognition?
* If a falling piano hit me on the head, rendering me completely insane, and I wanted to pay income taxes, could I do it under my own name? Or do I have to have a company to do it?
* Can I be registered somewhere as a tradeperson even if I am engaged in a money-making activity that is not considered intellectual (such as writing or painting)?


All this talk about Boopies is making me horny.

Scandall
 

Chris

Gold
Oct 21, 2002
7,951
28
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www.caribbetech.com
Just a few thoughts - I always understood that being a legally constituted business usually is a good thing in terms of liability. Depending how you structure, it generally means that you are not personally liable if your boopies go bad and make someone else sick. So, besides other things, it is a personal protection. You are an entity and a business is another entity. In terms of a failed business, the reasons are obvious. Adding one last thought, in business it is the expected thing to have a business constituted. So, to be serious, it is the expected thing. It is simple to do, it is expected, others will perhaps take you a little less seriously without a formally constituted business.

This needs to be checked but some time ago I checked into the TM sign specifically - can one use it, how should it be used and such stuff. I learnt (this may be true only in America and this was a few years ago), that you can use the TM whenever, as an 'intention to mark your name', kinda like a dog marking its territory. The TM sign does not mean that the name is completely legally trademarked everywhere, but that the process toward trademarking is intended but the process may not be complete. I really do not know the Dominican rules and regulations, but in software, in the US, this method is still frequently followed by smaller companies - as the cost to trademark is huge. So, you may be able to protect your name for a period, until you really sell sufficient boopies to be able to afford trademarking in as many countries as you sell. At least, if someone else uses the name, you have some legal foot to stand on - you can show intent.
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,574
341
83
dr1.com
For trademark info, email "Charo" at: r.mallen@verizon.net.do
I think you have met her before. Tell her Robert from DR1 sent you.
She is a trademark expert here, does lots of work for local companies.

The rest of the stuff speak to Fabio.
As you well know... you can do most things right now without being 100% legal, but it's getting harder and the tax dept are getting smarter, especially in Santo Domingo and Santiago.
 

Fabio J. Guzman

DR1 Expert
Jan 1, 2002
2,359
252
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www.drlawyer.com
* Can I as an individual trademark names? Or do I have to do it under a company's name?

You don?t have to be incorporated to trademark names.

* Can I do business, enter contracts, etc. as a private person and get legal recognition?

Yes, of course. You would be a ?comerciante?. Under Dominican laws, ?comerciantes? are subject to special laws.

If a falling piano hit me on the head, rendering me completely insane, and I wanted to pay income taxes, could I do it under my own name? Or do I have to have a company to do it?

Yes, you may do business as an individual and pay taxes in your own name as an ?individually-owned business? ( ?negocio de ?nico due?o?), as is called by the income tax authorities.

Can I be registered somewhere as a tradeperson even if I am engaged in a money-making activity that is not considered intellectual (such as writing or painting)?

Yes, at the C?mara de Comercio.[B][/B]
 

Pib

Goddess
Jan 1, 2002
3,668
20
38
www.dominicancooking.com
Thanks all for your helpful answers.

Rob, yes, I remember Charo. I will surely contact her.

Another question: is there actually any advantage for a VERY small operation* in paying taxes, other than appeasing a guilty conscience**?



**If there is anyone from the tax department reading this, I want to assure you that this is a hypothetical case of a hypothetical person not paying these hypothetical taxes. And I am talking about a friend of a hypothetical friend anyways.

**Which could just as easily be appeased with more alcohol in the bloodstream.