While it is incredibly easy to get a site up on the web these days, potential legal hassles abound. Whether you’re starting a site for personal use, business promotion, or community outreach, deal with the legalities as early as possible to avoid hot water later. In the meantime, below are a few hot-button issues to keep in mind.

Copyright: Did you know that websites are protected by copyright? The design, code, text, and graphics can all be copyrighted. With that being said, make sure you have a right to use everything on your site. The same goes for images and video. If you embed video from a site like YouTube, or music from a service like SoundCloud, you’re probably safer. But, don’t assume that just because you can easily rip content from another site, that you have a legal right to use it. This even goes for Google Images.

Trademarks: Pretty much all company names, product names, brand names and logos are trademarked to prevent competitors from deceiving consumers with a similar design or name. Be careful not to utilize trademarked content to draw visitors to your site. This goes for domain names as well! The standard for determining whether a trademark is being infringed is “likelihood of confusion” among consumers. With that being said, even similar, but not identical, names and logos may attract a threatening letter from an attorney to your mailbox. As a rule of thumb, be as original as possible!

Privacy: We all have come across a Privacy Policy on a website before. It’s there for a reason. In short, you cannot capture private information about visitors to your site and share or sell that information in any way without permission. If you collect information about website visitors, even for statistical purposes, you must disclose it. One other point – data privacy laws vary by country. Your best bet is to contact a lawyer to make sure you’re covered.

Angel Investors are generally interested in the very early stages of company formation. They are willing to invest money to help get ideas off the ground and/or bridge the gap in start-up financing between “friends and family” who provide seed funding and formal venture capital. Investment amounts can range from a few thousand dollars to a few million. Although Angel Investors make seek to offer advice or support to the business,  they do not necessarily require any control over operations or a seat on the board of directors. Angel investments bear an extremely high risk, so they will often require a very high rate of return. However, an investment agreement is often reached without extensive investigation.

A Venture Capitalist is usually an entity that pools the funds of several investors to invest in growth companies. Venture Capitalists typically get involved in a start-up once an idea has been proven. They tend to invest at least $3 million and look for a large potential market and a unique product or service with a strong competitive advantage. They also look for opportunities in industries that they are familiar with, and the chance to own a large percentage of the company so that they can influence its direction. Before making a decision, Venture Capitalists will engage in exhaustive examination and analysis of the company and conduct multiple meetings with company executives. Once an investment agreement is reached, the Venture Capitalist will likely hold a seat on the company’s board of directors.

There are a few factors to consider when making this decision. If you are actively engaged in business activities that creates liability concerns (translation: you could be sued), you should formally set up your business immediately. This goes without question. Conducting business without organizing or incorporating under state law will leave you open to personal liability should a judgment be entered against you. In other words, if a legal or financial disaster occurs, your personal assets could be seized.

If you are in the early planning stages and have not yet hit the marketplace, you MIGHT be able to hold off. If you are a working alone and are still fleshing out your ideas, it may be a little early to form a company. However, if you are collaborating with one or more partners and everyone involved has agreed that you have a business endeavor worth pursuing, create an entity as soon as possible. This will help flesh out such key considerations as 1. how ownership of the company will be divided; 2. what happens if one partner decides to jump ship; and 3. whether the company will own any related intellectual property created by a partner. Whether you are a sole founder or have partners, if you are seeking outside funding from investors, you most certainly should set up an entity. This will prevent unnecessary tax problems when issuing stock in exchange for investment.

No matter the circumstances, forming an entity gives you credibility when promoting your business to outside parties and entering early-stage contracts with vendors, potential partners, consultants, etc.. Simply put, it will help you begin to build your brand. One last point – skip the online company formation services. They talk a good game, but will not  consider the intricacies of your business and advise you on what corporate structure is best for you. Consult a business attorney. It will cost, but will potentially save you a considerable amount of money down the road.