Ask HN: Can your website be different than your LLC name?

[TTDaVeTT]

I'm looking into setting up an LLC for my website. How do you go about including your website under an LLC that has a different name? For example, if my website is www.newsite.com and my LLC is CoolCorp? I saw something about using a DBA for this. How does that fit in?

[dalke]

Why in the world would this be a concern? Just pulling an example from semi-random searches, "VJM Metal Craftsman LLC" has their web site at http://www.historicbridgerestoration.com/ . I know an LLC where $NAME.com was already taken, so they had to come up with something else.

The LLC owns the domain, but one question is if you push the domain name more or less than the company name. After all, you don't go to Reckitt Benckiser’s web site to find out more about Calgon, Woolite, Clearasil, or Lysol.

[drawkbox]

You can simply make the website a 'product' and if you want trademark the name. If it is for the LLC legally the url and product are property of the LLC. Lots of companies have many products under one company. You can trademark it if you feel it needs extra protection. If it takes off you can make it it's own LLC or corp.

[dctoedt]

1. If your LLC will be doing business (that is, holding itself out to the public) under a different name than its official name, you should probably file an assumed-name certificate in the appropriate office (which varies by state).

2. If you put a copyright notice on your Web pages (a mouseprint copyright notice is normally a good idea for evidentiary purposes, although technically not required under U.S. law), then the copyright notice should use the official name of the LLC, not the site URL.

Usual disclaimers: I'm a lawyer, but not YOUR lawyer, so this isn't legal advice, don't rely on it as such, don't disclose anything confidential in the comments (lest you waive any privilege that might apply), you and I aren't establishing an attorney-client relationship via this thread, etc., etc.

[TTDaVeTT]

Ok, thanks a lot. In my example(www.newsite.com and my LLC is CoolCorp), what would be the correct wording? Something like: "NewSite © 2010 is an affiliate of CoolCorp LLC."?

[dctoedt]

The usual statutory copyright notice is "Copyright © [year of first publication] [Owner's name]"

In your hypothetical example -- assuming CoolCorp LLC was indeed the copyright owner -- a statutory copyright notice would be "Copyright © 2010 CoolCorp LLC"; there'd be no need to include the URL or name of the site.

I _have_ seen notices that say something like, "NewSite Copyright © 2010 CoolCorp LLC"; I'm not aware that adding the NewSite name like that would cause any problems.

Same disclaimers apply - I'm not your lawyer, etc.