This is a quote from Angela Wu's "Online Business Basics" that should help answer these questions and other related issues...

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Business registration and licensing requirements will vary depending on where you live. This is not intended to be legal advice; please consult with a lawyer or your local chamber of commerce for information on your specific situation.

Check zoning regulations. Make sure that you are allowed to run a business from your home. Some residential areas may place restrictions on types of businesses that can be run from your home. Try calling city offices first; if they don't have this information, they may be able to point you in right direction.

Purchase any required licenses or permits. Once again, you will need to check with local authorities to find out what licenses and permits you need.

Decide on a business structure. Many Internet home businesses start out as sole proprietorships; visit US Small Business Association for more information : http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/index.html

For this reason, it's important that you take some measures to ensure that your product isn't being illegally copied and/or distributed.

In this article (the first of two on this subject) I'll look at issue of copyright protection.

In part two I'll be looking at practical measures you can take to prevent people from accessing your download pages or passing your ebook on to others

ESTABLISHING YOUR COPYRIGHT

This information is intended to act as an introduction to concept of copyright. Please be aware that I'm not a legal expert. If you've any doubts regarding copyright then you should seek legal advice.

Copyright is name given to protection of your 'right to copy' a published work.

When you own copyright to a work, you've right to reproduce any number of copies of that work in any way you choose. You can also grant copy rights to others.

Once you create a published work, your copyright to that work applies automatically. You do not need to formally register your copyright in order for your copyright of that work to legally exist. In fact, you do not even need to place a copyright statement on work.

Having said that, it's still a good idea to formally register your copyright.

In event that someone has stolen you work, having registered your copyright may entitle you to claim for compensation from offender. If you haven't formally registered work, then legally seeking compensation can be much more difficult.

For a closer examination of this important point, read this article by Mark Levine: http://www.clickandcopyright.com/why_copyright.htm

THE MINIMUM YOU SHOULD DO

If you are hesitant about paying fees to register your copyright, then there are still other measures you can take to make sure that world knows who owns your work (you should follow these steps EVEN if you DO register copyright).

You should include your copyright statement at bottom of every page of your book (and your website and everything else you create).