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Did you make a company before launching your app?

T

TreInJapan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 5, 2012
4
0
Hello! :)

I'm in the process of putting a few apps together. I'm an American and will be working with the US App Store, though I actually live in Japan currently.

Just wondering what your personal experience is with legal protection for your apps and ideas.

Did you create a legal entity (Corp, LLC or SP) BEFORE launching your apps, or AFTER? It seems like it would be important to have the legal protection at the time of launching in case someone were to steal your ideas.

Also, if I were to submit an app to the AppStore that unintentionally had some similar characters or features to something else already for sale somewhere in the world, would I be liable for "stealing" an idea?

Thanks so much!
 
We haven't made one yet. It depends how much money you have. Sure, if you own a house and have a nice nest egg, you might want to get an LLC just for protection. But you don't need one to enforce copyright laws if someone steals your idea, and its unlikely you're going to get sued if you're making something original.
If you're just starting out, its not worth the money. If you've got a nice little app business in progress, you might want to consider it.
 
The might be a good legal/business forum out there. That might save you the cost of a lawyer.
 
I preferred to establish my Apple Developer account under my company name, as I didn't want my name showing in the App Store and I thought it might help insulate against any potential liability issues.

However, Apple requires Articles of Incorporation as well as other documentation to do so. I couldn't find my Artitcles of Inc. and had to go to the Secretary of the State office to get copies. Still, worth the effort, in my opinion.
 
TreInJapan said:
Also, if I were to submit an app to the AppStore that unintentionally had some similar characters or features to something else already for sale somewhere in the world, would I be liable for "stealing" an idea?
Click to expand...

No. Ideas are a dime a dozen. With so many apps, everything has already been done
many times over.

The whole point of being a LLC is to limit liability. If you're worried about getting sued,
just setup a separate bank account for your business. Keep your personal funds separate.

Someone can sue you for a million bucks, but they're not going to get it.
Especially if your montly AppStore earnings is less than a bag of peanuts.
 
samdev said:
No. Ideas are a dime a dozen. With so many apps, everything has already been done
many times over.
Click to expand...

Well, that isn't true, on both accounts. Twitter has a patent on the pull-to-refresh gesture. They've basically said they won't sue anyone else over it, but they could if they wanted to. Or consider the ongoing Loadsys debacle -- many app developers have been threatened with legal action by them.

So you should always think about protecting yourself when you sell goods in a global market. Some customer could decide to sue you. It's better to be safe than play it loose. But as always, I'm not a lawyer; this is not legal advice.
 
TreInJapan said:
Hello! :)

I'm in the process of putting a few apps together. I'm an American and will be working with the US App Store, though I actually live in Japan currently.

Just wondering what your personal experience is with legal protection for your apps and ideas.

Did you create a legal entity (Corp, LLC or SP) BEFORE launching your apps, or AFTER? It seems like it would be important to have the legal protection at the time of launching in case someone were to steal your ideas.

Also, if I were to submit an app to the AppStore that unintentionally had some similar characters or features to something else already for sale somewhere in the world, would I be liable for "stealing" an idea?

Thanks so much!
Click to expand...

I'm sure there are advantages, tax and other, to setting yourself up as a business of some kind. I don't know anything about this, but it looks useful as a cheap way to do it..

http://www.legalzoom.com
 
petsounds said:
Well, that isn't true, on both accounts. Twitter has a patent on the pull-to-refresh gesture. They've basically said they won't sue anyone else over it, but they could if they wanted to. Or consider the ongoing Loadsys debacle -- many app developers have been threatened with legal action by them.

So you should always think about protecting yourself when you sell goods in a global market. Some customer could decide to sue you. It's better to be safe than play it loose. But as always, I'm not a lawyer; this is not legal advice.
Click to expand...

Not at all. "Ideas" don't fall into the category of patents or trademarks. "Ideas" cannot be copyrighted.

And I would highly doubt a big-time company would want to sue a little guy. Companies can size you
up pretty quickly like a shark. If they don't smell money, then they're not going to attack. :)
 
I have just used my name. In that way you don't have to do a lot of paperwork. But for me it's more a hobby. If it is your profession, it's handier to set up a company.
 
I develop my Mac/iOS applications on the side as a hobby, and simply post them under my name. Have been doing so for almost two years, with no problems.

Your mileage may vary, of course. The only downside is that since the sales from the App Store count as self-employment income (again, contact a CPA, your situation may be different!) I pay a pretty hefty tax on that income. :)
 
waterskier2007 said:
I believe you on twitter holding that patent, but then how does Apple get away with including a pull to refresh control that you can add to your table view in iOS6
Click to expand...

How? Well, either they implemented their pull-to-refresh in a different way, they're assuming (based on the patent inventor saying he wouldn't enforce it) like everyone else that Twitter won't go after people, or they've made a secret agreement with Twitter. For instance, Apple pays a license fee to Amazon for their ridiculous "one-click shopping" patent for use with the online Apple Store.
 
jkcerda said:
LLC for $80? details please.
Click to expand...

if you fill out the articles of organization yourself with your state it should be about $50. It is like 2 pages of info very very easy stuff. Send your check along with the 2 pages and I think it takes about 1-2 weeks. Once you are finalized you have like 2 months to publish that you started the company in a local paper this costs about $25 and they have links/directions on how to do that on the llc website.

Paying someone to do your llc is crazy paying more than $200 is insane.
 
waterskier2007 said:
I believe you on twitter holding that patent, but then how does Apple get away with including a pull to refresh control that you can add to your table view in iOS6
Click to expand...

Just because a patent holder has certain legal rights does not mean they have to exercise all those rights. Or they can exercise those rights by licensing out their patents or copyrights, for anywhere from expensive fees in the billions to free (in dollars).

But IANAL, so go ask one.
 
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