Hey, I was thinking about becoming an llc because of being liable very little. I operate a web hosting, web design, and game server hosting company and is there a way I am liable any way? Probably for data security and such. Anyways it looks like llc's have a minimum payment of 800 dollars that must be payed each year. I have asked my lawyer and read california's documents and this is waht I am seeing. Also if another company registers the name you want as a trademark and an llc but in a different state can I still get that as an llc? for example another jbservers made jbservers llc in washington but im trying to get jbservers llc as well but in caslifornia can I do that? Can i do that even witih trademark? Thanks

Well, I'm no lawyer, but LLC's and Trademarks are cross country. The originally company, should they find out you are using their name, can easily sue and win due to a unjust competition and more.

An LLC is a type of company, authorized only in certain states, whose owners and managers receive the limited liability and (usually) tax benefits of an S Corporation without having to conform to the S corporation restrictions.

In a Limited Liability Company, the earnings flow directly to the owners, thereby eliminating Corporate Income Taxes.

The Limited Liability Company which chooses to be taxed as a Partnership, is exempt from Federal Corporate Income Taxes.

For Example:
Regular Corporate Status
Taxable Income $1,000,000.00
Less Corporate Tax $340,000.00
Distribution to Owners $660,000.00

Limited Liability Company
Taxable Income $1,000,000.00
Less Corporate Tax $0.00
Distribution to Owners $1,000,000.00

Keep in mind that when you form a corporation, you are generally seperating your own income, properties from your business' income, and properties.

So if your company were to be sued, or generate bad credit, you will not be personally sued (although since it's your business, you will feel a personal monetary hit), nor can creditors place liens on your personal property (i.e. your house, car, etc), only your company properties can have liens placed on them, due to company credit issues, unpaid fines, etc (your building, company car, computers, etc).

This will become very very tricky however. Why? because if you operated your business from your home, your home, and any personal belongings you use to run your company then become subject to being "company property"

Correction: LLC's are not cross-country. No business type is. You can register an LLC in California with the same name as my company in New Jersey. The California database will not check the NJ database. It will only check the Cali DB. However...

The part about the trademark is correct. If I have a trademark on my company name, and you enter into the same business, or class of goods or services (services, in this case), as it's called, you will run into problems because you would be infringing on a trademark that I own.

Even if you use someone else's trademark in a different class of service, you could still run into problems if the other company complains that they are well known enough in their market that your use of their name could cause confusion with the consumer. For example, a small pet store in the area where I grew up had to change its name from "Pets R Us" to something else, because Toys R Us threatened suit. Another example would be "Home Depot Web Hosting". While you are clearly in a different class of service from Home Depot, you are using their name, which is very well known to the general public. It could be argued that you are using their name to gain customers who may think that the place they trust for screwdrivers and tabletop saws has now entered the hosting business.

To anyone looking to use another company's name as part of their own, my advice is try to be as distinct as possible. Or, come up with a name that is not like any other company's name. There are points to be won for originality.

Oh, and I'm not an attorney, so check out the USPTO Web site for more information at http://www.uspto.gov.

http://legalzoom.com also states that. They are basically an online lawyer