New production company: how to stay protected?

[jeff4760]

What is the name of your state? Texas

I am in the process of producing a Pilates instructional video in the city of Austin. My partner (hereafter referred to as: girlfriend) and I will be the creative force behind it. My girlfriend has received the funding and will act as the Executive Producer of the project. She will be forming either an LP or LLC under the guise of "(Adjective) Pilates". This is to establish the brand, which she will also trademark, and her series of videos she has been granted. It will also legally bind and protect the interests of the investor whom the funding is coming from.

I will also be forming a company; one that already exists but has not been governmentally established. I have felt the need to governmentally legitimize my production company since it will be producing this project. I have yet to figure out which way to incorporate as well.

One thing that I can't figure out is how we are to conduct business outside of Texas. Within Texas we are fine, but we will be vying for distribution to major companies (read: Wal-Mart, Target, Academy etc.). I know that the LLC (or whichever legal registration) is only good for the State Level, but we can do business outside of Texas if we keep the headquarters here. How do we go about selling a product (a DVD) outside of Texas and not be sued by a company that possibly might be LLC registered with the same name in another state? I guess one could call all the Secretary of States, but that seems asinine, and registering with all of them would be outrageously expensive.

I received a little bit of advice from a Mark Litwak, earlier today. He is an entertainment lawyer in LA and bills a hefty $450/ hr. I had him on the phone for maybe 4 minutes. I guess that was my free consultation. He suggested we trademark the DVD instructional video itself, and quite possibly the "(Adjective) Pilates" for national protection, but that trademarking the film company might not be worth it at this time.

Is that the answer? I assume it's deeper. Ultimately I need to know how to handle this so I can better handle future projects that I plan to seek distribution with. I appreciate any correct, and informative advice. Please no guesswork.

Thanks.

[quincy]

The DVD is copyrighted once it is completed, but you can register the DVD with the Copyright Office for additional protection - go to [url]www.copyright.gov[/url] for more information.

If you plan on using "(Adjective) Pilates" as your business name and trademark, you should do a trademark search first - go to [url]www.uspto.gov[/url] for more information - to see if your business name, the one you are registering in Texas, is in use by another business as a trademark already. You can do the search yourself or hire a trademark search service to do it for you. Generally, a trademark is owned by the business that first uses it to identify their service or product. A business can also obtain trademark protection if it files for trademark registration before anyone else uses the mark.

Wait for others to post with additional information.