How can I get permission to sell products?

Unless you are selling something that is subject to special regulation, you generally do not need permission. If what you are buying is subject to intellectual property rights, and is a legitimate product obtained through a legitimate source, then the first sale doctrine extinguishes the rights with respect to that item. If you plan to hold yourself out as an authorized dealer, then you would need to contact the holder of the intellectual property rights for that item to see how this is done. If you are just starting a business, you have numerous other considerations. Some examples include: 1) A trademark clearance search and federal trademark registration for your business name. 2) Formation of a business entity. 3) The location for your business, and whether there are any local business taxes to which you might be subject in that location that you might be able to avoid in a different location. 4) Insurance. You want liability insurance covering any damage or injuries from your products or services, liability insurance for anyone injured on your premises, and insurance for your business property and inventory. If you have employees, you will need workers compensation insurance. 5) If you do have employees, you will want to use a payroll service to handle their paychecks and tax withholdings. 6) If you will have partners, then you will want written shareholder and operating agreements in place quickly so that everyone's obligations and expectations are clarified and agreed in writing. 7) Marketing – search engine optimized website, social media, networking, and paid advertising directed towards your likely customers. This may be one of your biggest budget items. Be careful – it is very easy to buy marketing that costs you far more than it returns in business. 8) Terms of use for your website. I will leave most of these to your business attorney, but at the minimum, you want anyone who has a dispute with you about a product they purchased from you to agree to bring the suit in the courts where you live, and/or to arbitrate or mediate the dispute where you live. This is only a very partial list of considerations. Seek out good business counsel as well as good legal counsel. If a local business college has a Small Business Development Center, or if a chapter of SCORE (association of retired business people that now counsel startups and struggling existing businesses) is available to you, take advantage of these resources. If you are in business for any length of time, you will make mistakes. Getting the right counsel early can minimize the number and magnitude of these mistakes.

You should speak to an attorney in a private consultation concerning, at least, any business licenses you may need to sell products online in a business or potentially filing for a trademark application related to your business.

Here, I'll chime in as an entrepreneur who's owned three retail businesses (among others). The landscape of product sales is far too complex to guess at what regulations may apply or intellectual property rights may apply, but if you'll narrow your question considerably, perhaps some guidance can be provided. For example, if you're selling food products, you may need a host of licenses -- particularly if you are re-packaging, re-labeling or preparing the food products. If you're selling animals, you guessed it, there are other regulations. If you are selling medical devices or medicines (or things that claim to have medical benefits) then, yep, other regulations. Since this is in the Trademark area of , perhaps you mean only to inquire about trademark issues (in which case see our colleague's eight point memo, above)? However, the broader point is that going into business means that you're betting your business on the answer to this question. And, if you take your business seriously (and, I bet you do), you owe it to yourself to hire an experienced lawyer in your area who can more quickly spot your issues and have the quality of conversation with you that only live/video interaction provides.