Lambros Law Office LLC

Why Managing Your Online Reputation is Crucial

In the digital age, online presence and reputation can make or break a small business. When managing your online reputation, the best place to start is with an Internet search to see what people are saying about you. No matter how new or small your business is the odds are good that someone out there is saying something. Do a little digging to see what the general attitudes are toward your business. This research can give you a baseline for where you should start when it comes to managing your online presence and offer an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses in the eyes of customers.

If you want your business to be taken seriously, then you need to have your own website. While your company’s site doesn’t have to have information spanning multiple pages, you do need to have the basics of your business in one single, easily accessible location. Not only does a quality website familiarize customers with your brand, it also offers them answers to questions such as where your store is located and what hours you operate. Small business owners can expect to spend anywhere from a couple hundred dollars a year to several thousand dollars annually on their website, but this is absolutely an expenditure worth making.

In addition to maintaining your own website, it’s crucial for your business to have a presence on social media. For the best results, create a Facebook profile, Twitter account, and Tumblr page for your company at a minimum. Utilizing these sites can expand the influence of your brand, and allow you and your business to show a bit of personality. And continually adding new content to your sites can keep customers engaged.

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Why You Need a Privacy Policy

Protecting yourself, your customers, and your data is a concern for anyone with a website or online presence. This is why having some kind of privacy policy in place is an essential consideration. Here are some things you need to know.

First, know your industry. Certain industries have federally mandated privacy requirements. For example, medical information is highly sensitive and highly protected. So are financial transactions. If you are providing these types of services, federal laws likely dictate the way in which information can be handled, and if, how, and when it can be shared with third parties. If you don’t know which laws apply to your business, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is a good place to start.

Second, know your business. A privacy policy should be tailored to your specific needs and practices. One of the worst mistakes you can make is to use a privacy policy that doesn’t actually align with what your business does. The FTC has taken legal action against companies for misleading their customers and handling information not in accordance with their own policies. To avoid this particular liability, you need to know definitively what information your company collects, why it collects it, if it shares it, and where it ultimately ends up.

Depending on the volume and type of data your business collects, you may even want to go one step further and conduct a risk assessment. This will help you to better understand what disclaimers are appropriate.

Third, know your customers. Are your customers large corporations who require a high level of security to do business with you? What is the relative sensitivity of the data–is it just an email address, or is it a Social Security number? Do you ask for any information that you yourself would hesitate to give out? Depending on the answers, your privacy policy may require more or less detail.

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When to Use Copyrights, Patents, and Trademarks

Whether you are incorporated, an LLC, or a mom and pop shop, intellectual property should be an important consideration for every small business. It’s important to have a basic understanding of the three primary tools of intellectual property law: copyrights, patents, and trademarks.

Patents

Most people associate intellectual property with patents. Patents protect a new machine, chemical formulas, article of manufacture, or process. As a business owner, you can’t patent a business idea, but you can protect a method of doing business, as long as it meets a specific set of requirements.

For business owners, the most applicable type of patent is a utility patent. Utility patents are granted to these types of inventions:

• A process or method, such as computer software or medical procedure
• A machine, such as a 3D printer or coffee grinder
• An article of manufacture, such as a soap dispenser or light bulb
• A composition of matter, such as a drug formula or cleaning solution
• An improvement of an invention that fits within one of the first four categories

Trademarks

A trademark can be any word, sign, symbol, or graphic that you apply to your company and its goods and services to distinguish them from those of your competitors.

Consider trademarks the face of your business. Though logos and slogans are the most common forms of trademarks, other distinguishing features can be registered trademarks, for example, the shape of the Coca-Cola bottle, the shade of orange of Nike’s packaging, and even the chime noise played frequently by NBC.

At the very least, business owners should consider securing a trademark for their company’s name. This is different than registering the business name with the state when applying for a business license. A trademark gives your business exclusive rights to use the mark nationwide and provides a legal basis to stop any copycat businesses.

Copyrights

Copyrights protect original creations, generally typically words and images. Common examples of copyrighted items include books, speeches, photos, drawings, paintings, and musical recordings. A copyright is the exclusive right of the creator of a work, who has the power to determine how the work should be used or reproduced in any way.

You don’t have to register a copyright because it is automatically assumed the moment your work is created, but registration is required if you ever wish to pursue a case involving copyright infringement. Some creators also opt to register their work in order to establish the facts of their creations on the public record and hold a certification of registration.

At Lambros Law Office, we take great pride in serving Rhode Island by providing old school service while staying on the cutting edge of legal developments. Visit our contact or Facebook page to learn more.