Sarting a baby skin care line. What legal actions do I need to take?
Asked by Christina
What kind of legal steps and licensing do I need To Make and Sell Home Made Soaps?I am starting my own natural baby skin care line and am wondering if someone can help me out with what I need to do as far as licenses, Patents, Trademark?, etc to make sure I am doing everything legal and no one copies my brand. I will be making them at home myself. Does the FDA have any thing to do with this or the health department?

Best Answer:
You probably need $1,000,000 or more of product liability insurance -- esp to sell to any chain stores. I'm guessing this could cost you $1500 a year -- but that is a real guess. And you need to be a business -- a sole prop or a subchapter S corp are your most likely choices -- depends on your finances. Things like soap are really hard to copyright or trademark unless you have something really revolutionary. And you must be ready to spend a LOT to defend these protections -- otherwise you are probably best not bothering. Good luck.

You cannot patent a natural substance, or a combination of natural substances...you can only patent the name. That is why recipies, for Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Perfumes, etc..are closely guarded, b/c if they go out, there is nothing that legally stops someone from producing the same thing, they just can't MARKET the product under the same name.
Answered by Mary B