Photo courtesy of smlp.co.uk on Flickr

WA Today has posted a comprehensive list of all the legal details you should consider when starting an online business.

The list contains information about:

• business registration
• your business or company name
• your business domain name
• what you need for taxation purposes
• applying for an ABN, and
• licences and permits.

It also points readers to where they can get more legal tools and tips from the Australian government.

Also in an effort to help out small business owners, the Brisbane Times has published a list of programmes and initiatives that small business owners should know, plus how to register a domain name in Australia.

The Times’ list includes:

• the Small Business Advisory Service program
• the Single Business Service
• the National Broadband Network, and
• Digital Economy programs.

To see WA Today’s list of legal issues for ecommerce business owners, click here.

To see the Brisbane Times’ list of programmes and initiatives for small business owners, click here. To see the Times’ guide for registering a domain name, click here.

The Sydney Morning Herald offers the following advice for domain owners to help them better protect their domains:

Can someone register domain names that are similar to my business?

Yes they can. You have a license to use the specific domain names that you register. Other parties can register and use similar domain names.

• Australian Domain Name Authority (auDA) policy applies to all .au domains and all Australian domain holders. Australian domain names may only be registered to Australian businesses. com.au and net.au domain names must be “an exact match, abbreviation or acronym of the registrant’s name or trademark or closely and substantially connected to the registrant”. Failure to demonstrate this connection can lead to the domain name being cancelled, under auDA policy.

• Using another trader’s registered trademark in the registered classes may be trademark infringement and a breach of the Trade Marks Act 1995.
• Australian Consumer Law prohibits misleading and deceptive conduct, including false and misleading representations that one business has an affiliation with another business that it does not have.
• Using another trader’s branding and/or trademarks, even if the branding is not a registered trademark, may be passing off.

How can I protect my brand online?

Legal solutions

• Choose a brand that is clearly distinguishable from your competitors can be easier to protect and defend.
• Include a copyright notice in your website terms that sets out your intellectual property rights.
• Consider registering variations of your main domain name.
• Register your business trade mark to give you the exclusive right to use this trade mark as a brand name for the products or services specific in your registration.
• Check for infringement.

To read more on this story, click here.

Photo credit; Midiman on Flickr

The Sydney Morning Herald recently published a step-by-step guide for who want to register their own small business online.

Here is what you need to do:

1. Decide on your business structure.

2. Apply for your Australian Business Number (ABN).

3. Check that your chosen business name is available.

4. Register your business name.

5. Register your website domain name.

• Sole trader: an individual trading on their own
• Partnership: an association of people or entities running a business together, but not as a company
• Trust: an entity that holds property or income for the benefit of others
• Company: a legal entity separate from its shareholders.

• your personal details
• your business information
• your associate details
• reasons for your application
• your business activity details and
• a declaration that the information you have provided throughout the application is true.

1. Search business names register on the ASIC Connect website.
2. From the drop down menu select ‘Check business name availability’.
3. Enter the name you would like to search in the field below.
4. Submit your search by pressing the ‘Go’ button.

1. Going to the ASIC Connect website.
2. Signing up to create an account with ASIC prior to beginning your application. Once you have your account you can begin the application.
3. Completing the application. This should take you around 15-20 minutes to complete and at the end of the application you will receive confirmation that your chosen name has been registered.

• represents your business
• is easy to remember, pronounce and spell
• is three syllables or less.

To read more about this story, click here.

Photo credit; Tristan The Booklight on Flickr

Chris Burgess, Chief Information Officer for a non profit in Melbourne and manager of DNTrade, an online forum for discussing Australian domain names and online industry topics, shares his insights into what Australian businesses need to keep in mind when choosing a domain name.

Among his advice, Burgess recommends hosting your website with a hosting provider that has good support.

“It’s important to be able to pick up the phone and talk to someone if something isn’t working,” Burgess says.

Check out Burgess’ comprehensive advice on Australian domain names here.

Australian domain name rules outlined by the .au Domain Administration prevent anyone but Australian businesses or companies from owning .com.au or .net.au domains.

But the opening up of business.com.au to subdomain names means that overseas businesses who want to do business in Australia can now have a local domain name.

Local private people, contractors, business owners and incorporated or unincorporated businesses can also have an online presence on the premium domain for a low weekly rental.

Greg Rogers, from Faxts Media which runs Businesses.com.au, said that applications are now open anyone in Australia or overseas to apply for a Businesses.com.au domain.

“AuDA rules are strict. An Australian business name or ABN is an essential requirement to own a .com.au domain name,” Rogers said. “I checked with AuDA myself and there are no restrictions on sub domains if the main site is owned by Australians”

“Netregistry owns a .com domain www.au.com. They have been selling and hosting websites as www.sample.au.com which are sub domains of .au.com, for years. There are 1000′s of them. Businesses.com.au is Australian and perfect for any business.”

“Businesses.com.au will allocate sub domains on a first come first served basis. We will not allow trademarks to be used unless the applicant has permission or is the holder of the trademark.”

To apply for a domain name with businesses.com.au, email ceo@businesses.com.au.

To read more on this story, click here.

Founded in Melbourne in 2009 by Matt Mickiewicz and Mark Harbottle, the site has over 200,000 registered users buying and selling websites.

To read more on this story, click here.

This means that we will no longer be limited to traditional domains such as .com, .com.au etc.

In an earlier blog post, on the 26th of April we posted that cities will be able to register their names as a domain, such as .sydney, but with businesses also likely to get approval you can expect to see domains such as .sony

Next time you want to buy a TV online, you may have to simply type in tv.sony

You can read more at theaustralian.com.au