Registering all the needed trademarks for your startup is an important step that you should not overlook.

By Henry Brown

When it comes to any startup, you need to consider a lot of things. Chief among those things are the potential legal elements of keeping your business afloat. The reality of running any business is that there are always laws and regulations that you need to be aware of not only to keep your business secure but to make sure that your business isn’t behaving in any illegal or unethical ways. Of course, trying to keep track of all of that can be something of a challenge for many new startups. With that in mind, here are some of the ways to give your startup the legal shield it needs to survive in the modern business world.

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It’s not just a matter of your legal obligations, but you also need to consider your rights as a business. One of the most common places where newer businesses tend to slip up here is in regards to effectively trademarking their brand and name. Generally, it costs about $950 to trademark a name and doing so can protect you from any potential plagiarism of your brand. If someone else infringes on the recognition you’re building for your business, then it’s important that you’re well protected and can legally prevent them from doing so. Doing the necessary trademark research also helps insure that you aren’t infringing on an existing business’s trademark, which can bring its own legal headache and costs.

Employee rights

Your employees are, by far, the most valuable resource in your entire business. However, you need to make sure that you’re not just treating them like a resource and that you’re caring for and respecting their rights as individuals. Things like dealing with discrimination and harassment in the workplace aren’t just important on an ethical level but on a legal one as well. The same goes for their working hours. You need to make sure that you never make any employee work more than their contracted hours and if they do they should be given overtime for it. Make sure you know all the applicable laws regarding this issue and all other worker rights.

Health and safety

Health and safety is one of those things that every business owner knows the importance of but still gets forgotten about much of the time because of the fact that it’s something that, in an ideal world, you don’t need to worry about that often. However, if something does happen and an employee is injured because of something that could have been prevented by simple health and safety procedures that you didn’t put in place, then you’re going to liable for it. Not only can this bring your business to a grinding halt but it can also put you in a pretty dangerous position both legally and financially.

Of course, if you’re unsure of exactly what your legal rights or responsibilities are in any given circumstances, consult someone with a high degree of knowledge about the subject. Of course, if you’re not in a position to pay someone to consult then there’s plenty of incredibly useful information online that you can use to figure out exactly where your business stands on a legal level. Just make sure you check several trust-worthy sources.

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Henry Brown is an online marketing executive. When he isn’t talking shop he’s roaming the streets of London, uncovering the extra-ordinary in the ordinary.