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We may think that recording intellectual property (IP) ownership rights are fairly new occurrence it is not. Even the Romans stamped bricks to show their sign of ownership. Trademark law is quite ancient going out back to the year 1266 in England. The old law known as the “bakers marking law” used to indicate the maker of a loaf of bread. Each baker would have their own registered mark.

Trademark law is now well established internationally. Almost every single established company now has their own mark that uniquely defines their brand. Most people think that you have to legally register a mark to be able to use it but the opposite is true. You register a mark so that others cannot use it! When you register a trademark you gain the unique right to be the only one to use the mark or to control who can use it.

A trademark is a particular mark that permits clients to recognize you without seeing your product. It is a unique part of your brand. Tests have shown that you can display just part of a famous trademark and people know which brand it belongs to. This shows the power of a good image and how the brain works at remembering such things. This is why it is key to legally protect important marks and words.

In most countries if you create something yourself you have the sole rights to use this. However if an idea is used by many people it very quickly becomes common property and cannot be registered. It is always best to legally register marks and ideas. Registration legally defines the date of ownership beyond any sense of doubt. In some countries common law gives some protection but at the end of the day you have more protection if you hire trademark lawyers to protect key intellectual property.

These days you can self-register a trademark but there are inherent hazards of doing this of course. Trademark lawyers of course know how to register and how to protect possession if the rights are abused. They know the full story of registration and protection. If you self-register you may get a cheap registration but you may have left a loop-hole for somebody to abuse your rights later on.

Registration of trademarks can be done in one or more countries. Currently there is no such thing as a global trademark. You have to register in all the nations where you need protection.

Registration has become simpler over the recent years with the existence of systems like the Madrid System of International Registration of Marks through the World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva, Switzerland but international registration is still a slow and fairly expensive process.

Of course the benefits of registering a trademark outweigh the costs and challenges. If you are focused about your company you should be looking at registration today.

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A marketing budget is a big expense to small business owners, and often one of the first to go when times get tight. But, without marketing, sales suffer, and the cycle continues. One way to dream big even when times are tough is to take advantage of joint venture opportunities.

To be specific, a joint venture is when two or more business owners plan to contribute collectively toward a project that will benefit them all. In English, this means that small business owners have the opportunity to contribute toward a goal that everyone will benefit from. Many joint ventures are as simple as cross promoting each other’s products, but the concept works equally well on a complicated collaboration such as a consolidated weekend event.

Anyone involved in a joint venture will benefit regardless of the complexity. First, is your chance to create more power from your marketing budget. When you are not footing the entire bill, you might be able to afford advertising on radio or TV where in the past you were limited to print. Not to mention that everyone’s sales force is expanded by the other participant’s customers and contacts.

New business owners really benefit from choosing the right strategic business partners because they can establish their credibility very rapidly. If you choose successful joint venture partners, your credibility will grow rapidly as people perceive you to be similar to those you associate with. And the added bonus is that by taking advantage of these successful business owner’s skills and knowledge, you will bypass many of the mistakes a new small business owner might make along the way.

The best part about joint ventures is that by joining forces you are able to dream big. Nothing you want to do is out of your reach if you can find the right partners. Even now, when times are tough, small businesses are growing and expanding every day through the use of joint venture marketing. With the right commitment, your business can grow too.

Marty Dickinson has been an small business owner and president of HereNextYear.com for 15 years, and loves to share small business success strategies with other business owners. Get your free white paper: “7 Ways Your Stone-Age Accounting System is Stealing Money From You Every Day … And, How to Get it Back This Year” and learn about an online accounting program that makes it easy to track the success of your joint venture marketing.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was launched in 1953 and since its commencement; small businesses interest has been supported, counseled, boosted and defended by it.

No doubt SBA provides considerable financial support to small businessmen but it’s role in providing assistance to those affected by natural as well as man made or other disasters declared by the government is notwithstanding very important.

The chief grant-funded service transport system of SBA is The Small Business Development Center Program, developing opening for small entrepreneur to take advantage of different provisions and programs being introduced by it from period to period.

The main aim of the SBDC is to offer as much support possible for the business and economic development to sustain the growth, enhancement, and modernization, enhance production and improve management. SBDC gives assistance by linking Federal, State and Local government resources with private sector and educational community.

This year Small Business Administration (SBA) planned to issue Program Announcement No.OSBDC-2009-04 for the invitation of applications from Lead Small Business Development Centers to receive funds for providing training, counseling and educational activities to those small businesses, who had been either affected by the natural disasters such as hurricanes, flooding, or any disaster of serious nature during the year 2008. These business development centers are serving at least 100-affected small businesses as a declared subject of a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration.

This declaration has been made under Public Law 110-329 proclaimed on September 30, 2008.Under this declaration, SBA is expected to issue awards to the amount of $10,000,000. There are around 63 Lead Centers under SBDC program and least fixed amount of award has been fixed $10000 for one Lead Center whereas maximum has been fixed according to its eligibility.

Small Business Development Center has disclosed to Small Business Administration that this money of present funding is sufficient to give reimbursement to hundred small organizations influenced by natural hazards. There are lot of projects accessible to help damaged small entrepreneur in village areas too.

Though rural development business programs do not have any authoritative body for providing assistance in case of disaster yet there are many programs available that are adequate enough to give financial relief to small businesses.

There are lot of Business and Guaranteed Loan Program, Rural Business Enterprise Grant Program, Rural Business Opportunity Grant Program, Rural Economic Development and Loan and Grant Program.

One thing government has made clear that for small entrepreneurs, there is no need of any fear of losses on account of the disasters as they can always contact To SBA for assistance only with the condition that they have to keep themselves up to date current announcements.

John Goldman is one of the foremost advisor in matters relating to Government Grants and Financial Aid. To learn more about government grants and how to apply for them visit the Government Grant USA website