# Starting a business in canada...



## Nugget35 (Aug 4, 2010)

I am starting up a t-shirt business in Alberta Canada and I was wondering about a couple of things. First, I intend to start doing it as a hobby until I have the capital to do it as a profession. Do I need a business license to sell my t-shirts online for a hobby if I build a website to sell them on? If not, when does a hobby turn into a business? Where do I get a business license from (city, provincial government, federal government). What kind of complications are there to selling across the border? (to the United States). How do I protect my t-shirt designs, both in Canada and the United States? Do I have to copywrite each individual t-shirt design or can I simply state that all my work is copywrited by me on the website?

Thanks in advance for any info, and If anyone has been through this in alberta or canada in general and has any advice to offer it would be greatly appreciated.


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## dim116 (Nov 27, 2006)

here is some good reading for you: Business name and registration | Starting a Business | Canada Business


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## Nugget35 (Aug 4, 2010)

Thanks that sheds some light on a couple of things!


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## tiger24 (Jan 11, 2009)

hi evan,

i am pretty sure you need a business license to sell in canada.
i am in ontario and i needed to register my business at the closest ministry of ontario office and then proceed to get a vendor's permit provincially.

i assume it would be similar in alberta.

it seems pretty easy to sell to the US. the problem is getting people interested to buy your t-shirts!
i send all my product using canadapost. they make it real easy with minimal to no customs paperwork.

good luck evan,


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## Nugget35 (Aug 4, 2010)

Thanks! It's good to hear that customs won't be much of problem if I do manage to interest anyone south of the border.


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## Nugget35 (Aug 4, 2010)

Does anyone know anything about the copywriting portion of my post?


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Nugget35 said:


> Does anyone know anything about the copywriting portion of my post?


Copywriting is the art of writing copy (i.e. content prepared for print). The intellectual property term is copyright, referring to your moral and legal rights as the creator and/or owner of a work.

Copyright is automatic the moment a work is put into fixed form. You do not need to register it in order to be afforded certain legal protections; these protections are limited in the United States, but are fairly complete elsewhere.

That said, registration can be beneficial anywhere because it provides evidence in the event of legal proceedings. I don't know about Canada, but Australia allows US copyright registrations to be used as evidence in the court. I _imagine_ (but you would need to check) that Canada is the same.

You can bind a collection of multiple designs and copyright them as a single book. You do not need a separate registration for each design.


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## stevenricherd (Mar 3, 2011)

As far as the sell of T-shirts is concerned, we have to take a license from the authority of the city, it is illegal to sell a product without any license.


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