Starting a Business: Legal Essentials

This assignment delves into the legal aspects of starting a business in Australia. It examines various business structures, including companies, and outlines the legal responsibilities associated with each. The assignment emphasizes the importance of understanding intellectual property law, covering trademarks, patents, and copyrights, as well as their implications for businesses. Furthermore, it discusses contract law essentials, including types of contracts and key provisions, to ensure legally sound agreements. Finally, the assignment highlights the necessity of maintaining proper books and records for legal compliance and financial transparency.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Business structure............................................................................................................................3
Suggested name for the business.....................................................................................................4
Tax Compliance...............................................................................................................................4
Contractual Agreements..................................................................................................................5
Intellectual property of the business................................................................................................6
Intellectual property regimes...........................................................................................................7
Limitations of trademark protection................................................................................................8
Limitations of using Domain.........................................................................................................10
Intellectual property assets owned by others that may need to be used by the business...............10
Methods for legally obtaining the right to use these assets...........................................................11
Consumer Law...............................................................................................................................11
Required personnel........................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
This report outlines on current status of Australian business law with including the area of
contract law, statutory law, common law and Australian consumer law. As well as, the report is
demonstrating the legal solutions to everyday business problems. In this concern, ‘Shane travel
Pty Ltd’ is considering to understand different legal issues and legal solutions in businesses.
Business structure
The business structure is termed as the legal recognition of a business entity under the
jurisdiction or under the law of the country it is working. Four wide categories are considered in
Australia as sole trader, partnership, company and trust (Buisness.gov.au, 2017). There are slight
differences between all of them. As per the information provided in the assignment; the easy and
suitable structure for travel agency for 3 persons is Partnership firm or a company (SBDC,
2016). Due to separate identity and limited liability of the owners; it is considered that structure
of the firm as a company will be a suitable option for functioning as a travel agency. It is a
structure designed for two or more persons wishing to work mutually for generating profit. The
powers are defined on the mutual understanding among all participants. The profits are also
shared on decisions prior to the starting of the business, in the absence of any such discussion or
written deed; profits are divided on the basis of capital introduced. Proprietary company requires
Australian business number, a unique business name not registered earlier and the details of the
business name and Australian company number in case of registration with ASIC
The reasons behind the selection of this choice are if they register a company than the company
will be responsible for all the losses and debts in extreme case. It is having complex structure of

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business having high cost of setup and reporting. Company is served as separate entity from
owners; it is also required to maintain the financial records for seven or more years. Tax records
are also need to keep tax records for 5 years (Bainbridge, 2015). Although it is having several
documentation and licensing requirements but it is having facilities like availability of funds and
cost of registration are one time payable. The proper maintenance of the records helps to perform
as a company in the commercial world.So, structuring of the business as a company is
recommend for the travel agency.
Suggested name for the business
Shane travel Pty Ltd. is the name suggested for the business. It is checked by visiting on the
ASIC login page and than finding the required name in the search for organization and Business
names (ASIC Connect, 2017). First it is required to take Australia business number than
registration on ASIC. It is the company formed which is having private control in the hands of
the owners. The maximum numbers of persons limited by law are 50. It is required to register
name and trademark for the business, registering a website and other license and lease
documents in case of rented office. As per the corporation act companies must maintain records
of financial transactions, position and performance. It is also required to audit the statements by a
competent auditor (Ferran and Ho, 2014). It also includes the proper maintenance of records of
activities such as prime entries; working papers the method of accounting and preparing adjusted
financial statements. The company needs to maintain the list of assets and the final statements
with cash records and the details of the various tourists that travel through their agency. It is also
required to maintain the financial documents electronically with retaining hard copies with
themselves. These details are required to be maintained for 5-7 years for record purpose.

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Tax Compliance
There are several registrations that are required for the business to develop the first is Australian
business number which is also required to get a GST, ABN is a 11 digit unique number which
confirms business identity (ato, 2017). Australian Company number is also required there after
company is registered at ASIC for the operations in the business era. It is also required to register
for Taxation, it needs tax file number, goods and service tax, fringe benefit tax and other tax
registrations for the functioning under Australian taxation office. The records of the taxation
related documents are required to be kept for a period of five years with paper or electronic
mode.
There is a need to maintain proper books of accounts by every business a travel agency is
required to maintain the records of the vendors, its expenses on the various departments and
there are several books that are to be maintained as per the norms of the Australian tax authority
(ASIC, 2017). Accounting of all the cash related transactions such as bookings of tickets for the
visitor’s attractions, taxi service and hotel bookings, and payments received from the passengers.
There is a requirement of current bank account in the name of the firm for cheque, and cash
deposits and tallying bank with the bank account of the firm (Australian securities & Investments
Commission, 2017). It is also required to maintain the records of the final accounts, budgeted
statements and the audit of the financial statements. There is requirement to maintain the tax
receipts and invoices to be kept in the records of the company. It is also required to maintain the
records of the assets of the firm, records of the employees and details of the meetings, annual
returns and ASIC forms.

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Contractual Agreements
There are needs of several types of relationship building for successfully running a business.
There are certain criteria’s for the enforceability of a contract between two parties for the
purpose of business. The basic requirements are two parties, mutual consent, a lawful object and
consideration for the parities (SBDC, 2017). The enforceability of a contract depends until both
the parties to the contract are having trust among them. But in the competitive market it is a
difficult task to maintain trust among suppliers and customers. It is difficult to prove verbal
contracts in case any of the parties having conflict. So it is very important to have contracts in
writing for all the businesses. A written contract is having ease in proving the consent of the
parties to the contract in case of any dispute of conflict. There are several operations that are
done by the travel agencies during their business functioning so it is very important to function in
to the legal consideration for successfully running a company.
A contract have no specific format but it is needed to have the detail of the parties, the duration
for which the contract is done, the important conditions and terms for which contract made such
as payments, responsibilities and key areas of work for both the parties are to be mentioned
clearly (McKendrick, 2014). It also contains the consequences or penalties for the damages
caused to either of the parties in case of failure to perform by any of the parties. Termination of
the contract and any other specific conditions between the parties are to be entitled to discuss in
the contract for the smooth functioning of the business. But still the main factors of the contract
remains same which are the keys for the a valid contract starting from offer than acceptance,
legal relationship/enforceability in law and a consideration for the activities performed by the
parties.

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Intellectual property of the business
In Australia, the term “Intellectual Property (IP)” is used as an intangible assets which is
designed to protect and encourage innovation in order to get competitive advantages. Intellectual
property is governed by Australian Government to administer the legal rules and legislations for
the businesses. In this concern, the Australian government provides different intellectual
properties Patent, Trade mark protection, Registering domain name, design protection and
copyright for the businesses to protect their uniqueness in the territory (Drahos, 2016).
Acquaintances of ‘Shane travel Pty ltd.’ may use Trade mark protection and Domain name to
protect its intellectual property.
The Trade mark protection is a well developed legal system by Australian government to protect
the intellectual property of individuals and organizations. In this sense, Shane travel Pty ltd will
use register a trade mark as a marketing tool for the travelling business, which will provide the
legal protection and prevent other individuals to use this name in the nation. In addition, the
Company will register through unique domain name on internet that will allow others to access
the firm’s website (Australian Government, 2017). The domain name for this travel business will
be ended by ‘.au’ as it is registered in Australia. This domain name will protect this company’s
intellectual property and provide uniqueness in the world.
Intellectual property regimes
After obtaining the intellectual property rights from Australian government it will be
responsibility of the proprietors to monitor a way in which the intellectual property rights can be
protected. In this process, the IP that will be protected is communicated in the related market
with containing the copyrights or trade mark. The owners of Shane travel Pty ltd. should be

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aware that their IP licenses are covered by Personal Property Securities Act 2009 and the rights
related to licensees are registered under the Act to protect business uniqueness (Hanrahan, 2017).
In addition, the IP regimes that may be used to protect the intellectual property are discussed
below:
 Assurance of reducing variation in law and practices to participate in the international
synchronization endeavors with respect to trademark.
 Remedies and strengthened against contrivance of technological measures to restrict copy
of an individuals working pattern
Hence, the regimes related to IP will be useful for the establishing company in protecting its
intellectual property rights such as Trade mark and Domain name in proper manner.
Limitations of trademark protection
There are different types of limitations in trademark protection which may impact on intellectual
property of the company. These limitations are discussed as below:
Geographical Limitation:
The Trademark protection creates limits for the trademarked companies to trade in the limited
area. The trademark obtained for Shane travel Pty ltd. provided the limits to operate its business
activities in Australia only and resisted to operate the functional activities in other countries
(Dratler, 2017). In this sense, it is analyzed this travel company is not authorized to operate its
business activities other than Australia.
Functionality Limitation:

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In Trademark protection the important limitation lies to what will be trademarked to protect the
IP. It is analyzed that when the possibilities are almost limitless than the entrepreneurs will have
all things in general as they are non-functional. For instance, the shape of a water bottle can be
trademarked by the company (Luckasson and Schalock, 2013). This limitation is intended to
defend against the using the trademark protection and limit the competition by listing the
functional elements.
Fair Use Limitation:
The trademark regimes also involve fair use doctrines that are essential for a trademarked firm. A
trademarked organization cannot compel its rights if the trademark is used legally in different
contexts (May, 2013). In addition, if the trademark is fanciful and arbitrary than the proprietor
may still not be capable to compel its rights to recognize and separate its products and services
from the competitors.
Import Limitation:
In the competitive business environment, usually the goods and services are sold in different
countries with different pricing and packing. In this concern, it is analyzed that the trademark
protection is not capable to block the “parallel imports” when an individual buys goods without
the permission of the trademark owner. For instance, an organization owns trademark in USA
and UK but the prices of products are different in both countries (Chisum et al., 2011). In this
situation, if an individual buys products from that country where the price is lower than the
company probably cannot use trademark laws. But, if the products are bought from other than
these two countries than the trade owner can use trademark law to stop the illegal importation of
goods and services. In this regard, the trademark rights provides legal rights to Shane travel Pty

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ltd. but these rights also make limits for the company to operate the business activities only in
Australia.
Limitations of using Domain
Domain name provides uniqueness to an organization but it also has limitations that are
discussed as below:
 In a domain name, letter, hyphens and numbers are used to present a company on online
platform but in a domain name characters are not allowed.
 In a domain hyphens cannot be used at the end or beginning of a domain name.
 An organization cannot use a domain that is already used by anyone.
Hence, it is observed that an organization also should focus on limitations of the IP regimes to
protect their intellectual property in legal way.
Intellectual property assets owned by others that may need to be used by the business
There are some intellectual property assets such as patents, copyrights and trade secrets that are
owned by other business for their uniqueness and innovations. These intellectual property assets
may be used in the proposed travelling business as requirements of the business operations. The
company can use patent as an intellectual property to have its name unique in the industry. As
well, Copyrights may be used by the company to protect the “unique work of authority” with
including artistic expressions, written words and other intellectual operations. Furthermore,
Shane travel Pty ltd. Company can use Trade secrets as its intellectual property assets to protect
the strategic planning and create the competitive advantages over the competitors (Rosenthal,
2010).

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Methods for legally obtaining the right to use these assets
There are mainly two legal methods of obtaining the rights to use intellectual property assets.
These methods are discussed as below:
Licensing: It is an important method to grow a business by trademark, patents, designs and
copyrights. It is a systematic and essential element for the business to operate business in
Australia (Grimpe and Hussinger, 2014). In this method, the businesses fulfill all the required
information to obtain the rights of using intellectual properties.
Registration: This is used to provide visibility to an organization’s name, logo, business slinks
and image. Through registration method an organization can add Business registration with its
domain name (Kur et al., 2013). Therefore, it is an important method of obtaining intellectual
rights and protecting intellectual assets.
Consumer Law
Australian Consumer Law: travel agency companies are covered under the consumer protection
law it details about the fair pricing to the visitors and especially in the advertisements it is
required to provide the services and benefits to the visitors mentioned at the time of booking of
the tour (Australia Competition & Consumer Commission, 2013). In case of changes on the
service quality to cancellation of the tour due to tour operator than it is the responsibility of the
operator to pay compensation or arrange alternate transport service immediately. It is also
required to provide same level of services as discussed in the meeting or advertisement to the
clients. Such as hotel services, tickets of the bus, train or air and package venues in the absence
of any service or lack of quality in comparison to promised will result to suing company by the
visitors under consumer law.

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The business is needed to use fair practices for competition they must not promise for lower
prices in the advertisements for a tour which is not possible in such low price. It is also required
to provide services that are promised with the tourists at the time of tour booking (Whish and
Bailey, 2015). The details about the terms and conditions of the travel agency should be provided
to the customers well in advance. It is required to disclose actual information to the tourists about
the accommodation, food and other services offered by travel companies. It is also required to
give receipts for the payments received from the travelers.
Required personnel
Retail travel manager: It is the person responsible for managing finance and performance of the
travel agency. It is the motivator for the sales team to perform; it is responsible for the overall
working of the travel agency (Atcc, 2015). It manages all the activities and act as key for the
travel agency. It is required to be hired for the company.
Retail travel consultant: It is professional who deals with external parties like public,
arrangements of accommodation and other facilities. It may include air tickets, hotel bookings,
transport service and planning for the travelling plans. It is required to hired for the company
Receptionist: It is not necessarily required at the starting of a business, its role is to manage the
visitors to the office and fixing meetings, scheduling and managing distribution of documents of
the tourists, managing drivers and other basic services at the office.
Financial record keeper: financial record keeper can be hired on contractual basis for initial
few months of year as there is no specific requirement for full time financial record keeper as
there are few transactions in the starting period of operation.

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Tour guides: tour guides can also be hired on contractual basis having fix remuneration per trip.
As they are responsible for the details about the tourist attraction and about the city visitors are
visiting. As several times visitors avoid tour guides for their trips.
Financial advisor: Professionals which provides paid advice to about managing finance in a
company (DaSilva, and Trkman, 2014). It is also required to hire a financial advisor for
contractual basis.
Drivers: it is required to hire drivers as it is vital part of the travel agency the key areas of
functioning are picking and dropping tourists to the hotel and tourist place, taking them to airport
or stations and other facilities to the visitors.
Cleaner/s: they are the persons responsible for the cleanness of the office. So they are also
appointed on contractual basis for the cleanness of the office, vehicles and other business assets.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be concluded that there are various legal formalities that are
essential for the business to operate operational activities in Australia. It is observed that
intellectual property rights can be used by the firms to protect their uniqueness in a specific
territory.

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References
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%25252F172.27.129.180%25253A443%25252Flogin%25252Flogin.html
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https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Registration/Work-out-which-registrations-you-need/Business-
or-company-registrations/ (Accessed: 5 September 2017).

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