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Choice of Business Entity for a Startup
In Canada business entities considered by entrepreneurs include: (1) sole proprietorships, (2) partnerships and limited partnerships and (3) corporations. Each of these entities has advantages as well as disadvantages. Choice of the entity is usually not irrevocable, and often an initial decision will be made with the understanding that, at the appropriate time, a different form of organization will be used.
Protection of Intellectual Property in a Startup
Aside from competence of management team, control of intellectual property is a major focus of investor scrutiny. The ability to identify and protect intellectual property directly reflects on investor confidence and the resulting access to capital available to technology start-up. Protection of intellectual property assets is available through the law of copyright, trade secrets, patents and trademarks.
Canadian Start-up Legal Package
Canadian Start-up Legal Package promotion starts at 10:00 Eastern Time on Monday, December 12, 2011 and ends at 16:00 Eastern Time on Friday, December 16, 2011. This promotion runs concurrently with the Canadian Trademark Applications For Start-ups promotion and the U.S. Provisional Patent Applications For Start-ups promotion.
You got questions? We got answers.
1. What is the cost?
Canadian $3,000.00 for each start-up legal package.
2. What is included in the Canadian Start-up Legal Package?
(a) Preparation and filing of Articles of Incorporation for one (1) Federal Incorporation and also organizing the corporation after the incorporation (i.e. drafting necessary corporate resolutions, bylaws, registers, share certificates);
(b) Preparation and filing (including required searches) of one (1) Canadian trademark Application;
(c) Preparation of one (1) Shareholders Agreement.
3. What about the Industry Canada incorporation filing fee and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office trademark application filing fee?
You have to pay $250.00 for the Industry Canada incorporation filing fee and $300.00 for the Canadian Intellectual Property Office trademark application filing fee.
4. Who qualifies for the promotion?
(a) You must be a start-up. This term is loosely defined, so this should be an easy requirement to meet. However, the final decision whether or not your company is a start-up is made by Pinsky Law.
(b) You must be located in Canada. Corporate and Trademark laws are federal laws, so your start-up and Pinsky Law don't have to be located in the same province. As such, our clients are located all over Canada.
(c) You must have at least one registered domain name. We recommend that companies register their company name, product names, and trademarks as domain names in all of the generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) (including .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .ca, and .us). You should also register domain typos, including singular and plural variations. Registering multiple domains is cheap insurance to protect against possible infringing use. Also, we recommend registering domains in the name of your company using the exact same contact information for each domain.
(d) You must contact us electronically via our website. The fee of $3,000.00 is the only fee Pinsky Law will charge for preparation and filing of the Articles of Incorporation (including drafting necessary corporate resolutions, bylaws, registers, share certificates; preparation and filing of the Business Name Registration; preparation of the Shareholder agreement; and preparation and filing (including required searches) of one trademark application.
(e) You must retain Pinsky Law as your trademark agent of record for prosecution of the trademark application we file on your behalf. Retainer agreement(s) retaining Pinsky Law must be signed and all payments pursuant to this promotion and the retainer agreement(s) must be made during duration of this promotion between 10:00 Eastern Time on Monday, December 12, 2011 and 16:00 Eastern Time on Friday, December 16, 2011.
To be specific, the value of this offer is Canadian $1,700.00 for each Canadian Start-up Legal Package - our regular charge for federal incorporation and establishing of a federal corporation is $1,700.00; our regular charge for preparation of a shareholder agreement is $1,500.00; and our regular fee for preparation and filing of a Canadian trademark application is $1,500.00. The fee of $3,000.00 covers everything from retaining our law firm to filing of the Articles of Incorporation and properly establishing your corporation; preparation of the Shareholder Agreement; and preparation and filing of the trademark application, including the trademark search, application drafting, and application filing. The fee of $3,000.00 does NOT cover any Industry Canada incorporation filing fee and does NOT cover any Canadian Intellectual Property Office's filing fees. It also does NOT cover any costs after the filing of the trademark application (such as responding to office actions and/or opposition by third parties and the like). Most of the trademark applications we prepare, however, issue without major problems because we work hard to get them right initially.
5. Do existing clients qualify?
This proposal is for start-ups that are new clients to Pinsky Law. This proposal is not for existing clients.
6. Why are you doing this?
First, we want to help. Despite what some economists and government officials have said recently, most of us appreciate that we are entering year four of this recession. Second, in our experience, most of start-ups are trying to postpone or avoid altogether the legal expenses associated with establishing of a corporation or are trying to do incorporation themselves. Either way, they are often creating problems which are difficult and expensive to rectify afterwards. Third, based on a survey that Pinsky Law conducted, each company has, on average, five unregistered trademarks. So, we are counting on your future business, as well as your referrals. We are being fair and straight with you. We will trust you to be fair and strait with us.
7. Why $3,000.00?
Because it is a random number.
8. Can Pinsky Law prepare and file a U.S. trademark application(s) for us?
Yes, we can, but U.S. trademark application(s) is/are not included in this promotion.
9. How to engage Pinsky Law?
Step One. If you wish to participate in Canadian Start-up Legal Package promotion check the point #4 above to make sure that you qualify for this promotion, then click the ADD TO CART button below to book an initial consultation to discuss specifics of your case. The cost of the initial consultation is $300.00 and is NOT included in the cost of this promotion. You will be taken to our order processing page, which will collect your contact information before transferring you to our secure payment processing gateway administered by PayPal. You can use your PayPal account to pay or your Visa, MasterCard, or American Express credit card. Once the transaction is completed you will receive an eMail receipt.
Step Two. Following the payment send to us an eMail and we will schedule a consultation in our office to discuss specifics of your case. Telephone and eMail consultations are available, for those outside of Toronto, after the payment is made.
10. Anything else we need to know?
Pinsky Law reserves the right to cancel and/or modify this offer at any time. If this offer is wildly popular, then we might not be able to keep up with the demand. But we think that it would be a good problem to have. If we have to cancel or modify this offer, then we will do so via a comment on our website. You can find the post at the following URL: http://www.pinskylaw.ca/News/startup_legal_package.htm.