- Hey, everyone.
I'm attorney Aiden Durham with 180 Law Co. in Colorado.
Welcome back to All Up In Yo' Business,
where today we're gonna have some fun
and go through your comments
and answer your legal questions.
But, before we get into all of that fun stuff,
if you're new to All Up In Yo' Business, welcome.
Please do subscribe if you haven't already.
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for links to additional information and resources.
While I am a lawyer, I am not your lawyer.
The stuff I talk about in my video
should not be taken as a substitute for actual legal advice.
If you need help with any legal situation,
you should consult with a lawyer
who's licensed in your state.
Okay, now with all of that out of the way,
let's move on to your questions.
"Can someone else use your biz name even if you have a DBA?"
Yes, registering a DBA or a trade name,
doing business as or a fictitious name,
it doesn't do anything really
to prevent somebody else from using that name.
You may have some common law trademark rights in the name
that could maybe prevent someone from using it,
but solely the act of registering a DBA or a trade name,
that does nothing to protect the name.
At best, the most it's going to do is prevent somebody else
from registering that same name in the same state.
That's about it.
But a DBA is not the same as a trademark.
Registering a DBA is not the same
as registering a trademark.
They're two completely different things
and a DBA doesn't protect the name really
or prevent somebody else from using it.
"Hi, when filing for an EIN,
"should you include the DBA name with your LLC?
"Or will that cause issues
"if you want to use different DBA later under an LLC?"
So when you are applying for an EIN through the IRS,
the application, whether you're doing it online
or a paper application,
there will be a line for the entity's legal name.
That's the LLC's legal name,
the legal registered name of the LLC,
and then there's the next line that asks for a trade name
or a DBA or an alternative name
if the legal entity is doing business
under a different name.
So if you're operating under a DBA,
if your LLC is operating under a DBA,
you can indicate that DBA on the EIN application.
I'm not exactly sure, will that cause issues
if you want to use a different DBA later under an LLC?
The IRS doesn't really care.
DBAs are state things.
We register DBAs at the state level.
The IRS is a federal agency.
The IRS doesn't, they don't care
if we have multiple DBAs or anything.
It won't cause an issue later.
I'm not exactly sure
what issues you'd be getting at, but no,
using, indicating the DBA
on your EIN application is a good idea.
It won't cause issues.
"Great information as always."
Thank you, thank you.
"When it comes to the business insurance,
"do I need to have one business policy for the LLC
"and a separate one for the DBA?
"Or do I only need one policy that protects both?
"Thank you so much."
When it comes to the concept of a DBA or a trade name,
a fictitious name, these are all the same words,
different words for the same thing,
when it comes to a DBA, the main principle,
the main idea to keep in mind
is that a DBA is not a separate entity.
Say it with me.
A DBA does not create a separate entity.
A DBA is a nickname for your business.
That's kind of the easiest way to describe it.
It's like a nickname for your business.
When you register a DBA for your LLC,
you're not creating a separate thing.
You're not creating a separate entity.
You're quite literally just giving a nickname for your LLC.
And so when we look at it like that,
there's no separate thing to cover with insurance.
The DBA isn't a separate thing
that needs insurance coverage.
Let's take my cat, for example, my cat, Little Bird.
Where is she? Where is that Little Bird?
- [Narrator] Five minutes later.
- Okay, let's use my sweet Little Bird as an example.
Her legal name is Little Bird.
Her nickname though is Bird.
She, for lack of a better term, she has a DBA for Bird.
That's her nickname.
Everyone calls her Bird.
She does her life's business under the name Bird.
So, there's pet health insurance
that you can get for your pet if they get sick.
Insurance covers it.
If I have a pet health insurance policy for Little Bird,
do you think I'd need a separate policy for Bird?
No.
On the one policy, they might ask, does your bird,
does your bird, does your cat have nicknames?
And I can indicate on that,
okay, Little Bird's nickname is Bird,
but it's still the same cat.
We're still insuring the same one cat.
Having a nickname doesn't create yet a second Little Bird.
Still just the one Little Bird.
And same idea goes for your LLC
that has a DBA to it as well.
It's still just the one entity.
There isn't a separate thing
that needs to be covered with the DBA.
So roundabout, very long extended way of answering,
there's just one policy.
Your LLC is the only thing that needs to be covered.
"Hi, I live in a state that allows multiple DBAs
"as a sole proprietor and I want to open two DBAs.
"How do I record transactions?
"Do I need an individual bookkeeping system for each DBA,
"or is it only one bookkeeping for both?"
Okay, so again, let's go back and remember,
a DBA does not create a separate entity.
And as a sole proprietor,
we haven't created a separate entity with an LLC either.
So in this sense, as a sole proprietor with a DBA,
it really is kind of a nickname for yourself.
This nickname is the one you only use
when you're doing business maybe,
but this is a nickname for yourself.
So do you need individual bookkeeping systems?
No, you don't need to.
You're not gonna be like separating taxes.
Each DBA isn't gonna have to file its own,
pay its own taxes or anything.
It's all ultimately gonna come down to you as the individual
because you're a sole proprietor operating under a DBA.
Could you still have two separate bookkeeping systems?
Certainly, and that might be a good idea
if you want to be able to track the books and accounting
for each DBA, the business that each DBA is is doing.
If you wanna keep those separate
and track them separately, you can, but you don't need to.
You can use just one bookkeeping system for both.
That's fine.
It's kind of just a personal choice at that point.
"Can I use one word only to create a DBA?"
Absolutely, yeah.
A DBA can be one word, two words.
I don't think there's any limit
to how many words you can use in a DBA.
So yep, you can use one word only to create a DBA, sure can.
"Would you have to trademark the DBA name?"
You don't have to trademark any name.
The DBA, all right, let's go back.
To trademark something
is kind of not the accurate way to describe it.
You don't trademark a name.
A name can be a trademark
and you can register that trademark with the USPTO.
And so with this question, the DBA name can be a trademark
and you can register that trademark if you want to.
You don't have to.
There's no legal requirement
that you have a trademark registration
for a business name or a DBA or anything else.
So you can do it, but no, you certainly don't have to.
That's a perfect transition now
from DBA questions into trademark questions.
"What if your name is your business name,
"and if your name no one has,
"do you still have to have a trademark?"
So if your own personal legal name is your business name,
do you still have to have a trademark?
Like I said with the last question,
you don't have to have a registered trademark for anything.
You can be operating a business
under whatever name you want.
You don't have to register the trademark for it.
But if it's your legal name,
you can still register a trademark for your legal name
if that's the name you're using for your business.
It can be a trademark as well and you can register it.
And using your name,
that in itself doesn't prevent anyone else
from running a business under your name too.
Like, if multiple people
usually have the same names in the world,
there's not usually just one person with one name.
So if somebody else with the same name started a business
and used their name as well in the business,
that's not necessarily going to be prevented.
It all is still a trademark.
Like the trademark rules and stuff still apply
in the same way regardless
of whether it's your actual personal legal name or not.
But the strict answer to this,
do you still have to have a trademark?
No, you don't have to at all.
Trademark question again.
"For example, if I launch a company called 'Flowwer'",
with two Ws, "and a different company has 'Flower'",
with one W, "trademarked, "would the above example
"equal trademark infringement?"
If we're comparing Flowwer with two Ws
versus Flower for one W, trademark infringement?
I don't know.
It depends on a million other things
besides just the two trademarks.
If they are in the same industry,
if they're selling the same goods and services
or closely related goods and services, then probably.
Flowwer with two Ws and Flower with one W
would most likely be considered confusingly similar
in that instance if they were being used on the same
or very closely related goods and services.
If they're being used
on completely different goods and services,
totally unrelated, then probably not.
It probably wouldn't be trademark infringement,
but that doesn't always mean it's not.
If Flower with one W is an extremely popular famous brand
that everybody knows, maybe like a Pepsi or a Disney,
then yeah,
putting Flowwer with two Ws
on a completely unrelated product
could still be some form of trademark infringement
by virtue of that other brand being so well known.
But just comparing these two side-by-side,
we can't say at all.
If the goods and services are totally different,
then probably not trademark infringement, but who knows?
"I keep hearing that the business
"has to be in commerce first before forming the trademark."
You don't form a trademark.
You have a trademark and you can register the trademark,
but whatever.
"Before forming the trademark.
"How long does this have to be
"and what is the dollar amount that needs to be made
"before a trademark application makes sense to start?"
The thing that I think you're meaning
is that you have to be using a trademark in commerce
before it can be registered
with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
So you have to be using the trademark in commerce.
How long does this have to be?
How long do you have to be using it?
There's no rule.
There's no like strict
"you have to be using it for this amount of time."
Use in commerce is the only real requirement
with respect to use.
Same with the dollar amount.
There's no set dollar amount that needs to have been earned
or generated or anything with the trademark.
It all comes down to are you using
the trademark in commerce, and what exactly that means
is not, there's no clear answer to that either.
The kind of easiest general way of thinking about it
is that you are using your trademark in your business
and your business is up and running
and you are providing your goods and services
to the public or to your consumers.
Your goods and services are actively available
and being purchased by consumers.
That's the easiest way to think of use in commerce,
but there's more to it, so, you know, it depends.
Hi, thank you for hanging around.
You're so sweet.
"What's the point of being in business
"if you are still taxed 31 to 39% as a business owner?
"That makes no sense.
"No way this is correct."
So first of all, this is a comment
from I think one of my videos
about how to pay yourself in an S corporation,
and I very loosely give an example of kind of tax rates
and how to determine how much to pay yourself and stuff.
It's not correct,
The 31 to 39%, I mean, that's not an accurate reflection
of how much you pay in taxes.
It's different for everybody.
But what's the point of being in business
if you're still paying taxes?
If your purpose in being in business is to save taxes,
what's the point in that?
I think the point in being in business,
even if you're still paying taxes,
is that you get to be in business for yourself.
I would much rather pay 31 to 39% in tax
and be self-employed than pay, I don't know, maybe 25% taxes
but be somebody else's employee and be told what to do,
ugh, and not have control over my life
or how much time I spend with Little Bird and Rocky.
F that, no way.
I will gladly pay higher taxes to be in business.
That's not the necessarily the case, though.
You don't pay more solely because you're in business.
It kind of all works itself out in the end.
But yeah, that's the point of being in business,
is that you want to be in business for yourself
or you want to sell your own products or services.
Like, that's the point.
The point isn't to save in taxes.
I hope you all had fun 'cause I sure did.
I think Little Bird did, too.
If you learned a thing or two,
go ahead and give me a thumbs up, won't you?
And make sure you've subscribed.
Click that little bell if you haven't already
so you're notified when I post a new video,
and you can check the description
for links to more information and resources as well.
We answered a lot of DBA related questions here.
If you've got more DBA questions coming up,
check out this video right here.
I've got a video all about DBAs,
so you might find some more helpful info right there.
I'll meet you over there.
Thank you so much for watching.
I'm Aiden Durham and I'll see you next time.
Hi. Meow.