Each year, the Small Business Administration (SBA) designates the first week in May as the SBA National Small Business Week.  The City of Charlotte and its small business resource partners have declared May to be Small Business Month 2019.  Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles announced with an official proclamation that the city will be celebrating all month long!
 
As part of Charlotte’s Small Business Month, CharlotteBusinessResources.com (CBRBiz.com) will be spotlighting a different small business for each day for the month of May. 
 
CBRBiz.com supports Charlotte’s small business community in partnership with 26 supporting partners.  It is designed to connect entrepreneurs with free resources to start and grow a business in Charlotte, and it provides educational, networking, and mentoring services to Charlotte-area business owners.  CBRBiz was founded and is funded by the City of Charlotte.  It is an excellent resource for minority and veteran business owners.
 
Did you know that area community colleges have Small Business Centers that offer FREE classes for community member business owners?  The classes offered range from how to get your product on store shelves to bookkeeping and designing websites and doing your taxes. 
 
The colleges offer two-hour classroom seminars, as well as on-demand computer seminars (in case you cannot attend an in-person class).  Using the link below, you can search your local community college for in-person classes as well as searching the catalog of on-demand courses from any school that you can watch from the comfort of your own home.

Small Business Center Network
 
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library offers classes for adults ranging from learning computer skills (learning to use Excel, for example) to learning how to apply for grants or file business taxes.
 
CMLibrary Schedule
 
Have you heard of SCORE?  SCORE stands for “Service Corps of Retired Executives.” SCORE is a nationwide non-profit with thousands of working and retired business professionals who volunteer to support the success of small businesses. SCORE offers free live and on demand webinars for all things business-related:  https://charlotte.score.org/content/take-workshop-249
 
Not only does SCORE offer webinars, but they offer FREE one-on-one mentoring.  The Charlotte chapter has over 75 certified mentors that provide one on one mentoring to business owners and entrepreneurs.   Sign up for a mentor here:  https://charlotte.score.org/content/find-mentor-282

​By Attorney Edward Jesson
 
People and businesses get sued every day, and while no one enjoys being on the receiving end of a lawsuit, there are certain things that should be done to try and make the experience as painless as possible. In North Carolina, a lawsuit is generally started when an individual or a business (also called the “plaintiff”) files a complaint. The clerk of court issues a summons, which must be served on the defendant (the party being sued). This can generally be done by mailing it certified mail, return receipt requested, sending via FedEx or UPS, or having the county sheriff personally deliver a copy of the summons and complaint.

Once the summons and complaint have been served, the defendant has 30 days to respond to the complaint in district and superior courts. In small claims court, when a defendant is served (in some instances this can be achieved by the sheriff leaving a copy of the complaint taped to the front door), they will usually receive a notice of hearing along with the complaint.

Here is the first point that I would like to make clear: if you are served with a lawsuit, please do not wait until day 29 to contact an attorney. Evaluating your position as a defendant in a lawsuit and preparing the correct response takes time. While you can usually get a 30-day extension of time to respond, doing so at the last minute is not always possible, and the extension likely won’t be granted if it is after day 30. If you fail to respond to the complaint in time, the plaintiff may be entitled to a default judgment. It is exactly what it sounds like— they will automatically win “by default”! A default judgment can be hard to overcome once it is entered, and the excuse that you simply “forgot” to respond is usually not enough. 

Point number two: Do not answer the complaint without first consulting with an attorney. In an answer, you will generally just admit or deny the allegations to the complaint, but that is not the only response that is available. There are several ways that you may be able to get the lawsuit dismissed (meaning the case is thrown out), but that option is not available if you admit or deny allegations in the answer first. By doing that yourself, you may be preventing an attorney from later dismissing the lawsuit. 

For most people who are sued, it is for the first time in their lives (and hopefully the only time). Once the shock, confusion, and anger has worn off, it is important not to bury your head in the snow. Contact a litigation attorney who can help you navigate through the civil system and, hopefully, get your case resolved in the most efficient way possible. If done correctly, you may save a lot of money; however, trying to handle it yourself oftentimes results in the expenditure of more money. If you or anyone you know has been sued, please give the attorneys at Jesson & Rains a call.

​A trademark is a “word, phrase, symbol and/or design” that identifies and distinguishes the goods or services of the owner of the mark from another party.  Examples include brand names, slogans, tag lines, logos, and design elements (think, Tiffany blue boxes).  In order to get a federal, registered trademark, the mark has to be used in commerce, so normally the owner of the mark is a business or business owner.  Someone can apply for a trademark before the mark is used in commerce if the owner intends to use it in commerce, but the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) will not register the trademark until the applicant shows that it is actually being used.  Trademarks don’t expire, as long as the mark continues to be used in commerce and the owner files periodic documentation with the USPTO.   
 
The trademark application process is fairly simple, but actually obtaining the trademark can be quite tricky.  Not only does the applicant have to worry about the application being denied because the mark is too similar to another in a similar industry (“likelihood of confusion” according to the USPTO), but the applicant has to worry that the USPTO will deny the application for other grounds such as the trademark being “merely descriptive.”  For example, the name “Northeast Interiors” merely describes the business (interior design in the Northeast).  The strongest trademarks are “fanciful and arbitrary,” meaning they are words that have no relation to the good or service sold (like Apple computers), and the second strongest trademarks are “suggestive” meaning they suggest the good or service without literally describing it (think, Facebook).  Unfortunately, most people name their businesses something that describes them for marketing purposes!  Is marketing more important or trademarking?  This depends on the nature of your business.
 
A business can also have a common law trademark, but there are benefits to federally registering: first, inclusion in the national database deters others from using similar marks in similar industries; second, there is a legal presumption that the registrant owns the mark and was the first to use it, meaning that in a dispute with another, they would be presumed to be the winner.
 
A common law trademark is established simply by a business starting to use the mark in commerce.  The mark should be identified with the ™ symbol.  Only a federally registered trademark can use the ®.  A common law trademark is limited in geographic area, so you could have a competitor business open up with the same name in an entirely different state, as long as you didn’t share customers.  If a competitor opens in your geographic area, you could sue them for trademark infringement if they did damage to your mark.  You would have to prove you were the first to use the mark (unlike having a presumption in federal court).
 
If you’re thinking of trademarking something in your business, give Jesson & Rains a call!

What is intellectual property?
 
“Intellectual” property refers to creative works used in business that have economic value.  The four most common types of intellectual property (“IP”) are trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets.  Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, and logos that are identified with a brand; copyrights protect artistic works like books, music, and photographs; patents protect inventions; and trade secrets are property that are valuable and have been kept secret and out of the public domain.
 
We’ll be starting a series explaining each of these types of property in detail over the next few weeks.  As the word “property” signifies, intellectual property is an asset. Thus, it is important for both business planning and estate planning.  In the business context, it is crucial to determine who owns the IP.  Is it the individual who brought it into the business (and will take it with them when they leave) or does the business itself own it?  If there is a possibility for litigation, it may be worthwhile to form a separate LLC to own IP so the other business assets stay separate and protected.  Next time you look at fast food packaging, you’ll probably see that the company’s trademarks are owned by a separate business.
 
For estate planning purposes, we want to know about IP just like any other asset – how much is it worth?  Who inherits it?  So make sure to share this information with your estate planning attorney.
 
The next blog article will go into trademarks.  Stay tuned!
​

The privilege license tax is a tax levied on the privilege of conducting a particular trade or business.  If you are a professional that is licensed by a board, you most likely should be paying state privilege license tax every year (for example, accounts, attorneys, general contractors, realtors).  There are some exceptions to this requirement, like professionals working for the government or non-practicing physicians, to name a couple.

However, there are some surprising professions on this list; most notably, photographers.

A list of applicable professions can be found here:
https://files.nc.gov/ncdor/documents/files/instructions_b202a_application_for_state_privilege_license_2-18_web_v3_final_3.pdf

And the license application can be found here:
https://files.nc.gov/ncdor/documents/files/webfill_version_b202a_application_for_state_privilege_license.pdf

The license is issued to the individual and not the business.  While the individual can go ahead and form his/her business, the license should be applied for before beginning business.  It is unlawful to engage in business without obtaining a required privilege license. The penalty for failure to obtain a license is the greater of five dollars ($5) or five percent (5%) of the amount prescribed for the license per month or fraction thereof from the time the amount is due until the amount is paid, up to a maximum not to exceed twenty-five percent (25%).

The privilege license tax is annual and is due by July 1 of each year. The penalty for failure to pay any tax when due is ten percent (10%) of the tax due.

Because the license is issued to the individual and not the business, if an individual is engaged in more than one business, he/she will have to obtain a privilege license for each business.  If you are a licensed psychologist who has a photography business on the side, you must obtain two privilege licenses and pay two taxes, for example.  The license must be displayed conspicuously at the location of the licensed business, trade, or profession.

If you have questions about the privilege tax, please give us a call!

​We encourage business owners to form formal business structures like Limited Liability Companies and Corporations in order to protect their personal assets from business debts and creditors. However, simply filing the Articles of Organization or Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of State’s office is not enough. If you do not keep your business and personal finances and operations separate, a court could potentially find that, while there was an apparent separation of the two, in reality, the individual was using his or her business for their own personal affairs and order that the two are not really separate.  If this happens, a court could satisfy a business debt or judgment with your own personal assets. 
 
What can you do to avoid this?  First, the easiest thing to do is to keep your finances separate. Open a business bank account and only use that account for business income and expenses. Do not pay for personal items out of this account, even if you’re going to reimburse yourself.  Keep good records.  Do not take liberties with categorizing something as a business expense when it’s really a personal expense. Use a trustworthy business accountant. It is not worth the risk of stretching your deductions to pay less taxes (if it’s not really a business expense) because you’re opening yourself up to personal liability. Second, sign all of your contracts as member of your LLC. Don’t sign them as you personally.
 
Third, if you own a corporation, you have to comply with the North Carolina Business Corporation Act. You are required to have bylaws, even if you are the sole owner. You are required to vote and install a Board of Directors. If you want to own your corporation, the board (which may just be comprised of you) needs to issue you shares so that there’s a record that you own the business and that you’re not simply just a director or the president of the business.  Directors need to keep thorough records of annual meetings and need to vote on business decisions (even if it is just yourself voting). If you do not have robust corporate records, you risk having a creditor ask a court to “pierce the corporate veil” … meaning that a court may find you and your corporation one of the same, and you may be ordered to satisfy corporate debts and judgments with your personal assets, defeating one of the main purposes of owning a corporation. If you or someone you know on a business and you believe that the books and records need to be improved, please give us a call.