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Advice On How To Pick A Name Before Incorporating A Company

August 1st, 2011 | Author: Holly Crosgrey

Before you can incorporate a company in Canada, no matter what province or territory you live in, you will be required to provide some form of name search and as well, you might also be required to provide a name search to register a proprietorship, business name or a partnership.

Prior to obtaining a Nuans name search report or similar name search, a person who wishes to register a company, partnership, business name or sole proprietorship in Canada will sometimes do a preliminary name search. The preliminary name search weeds out all or most of the similarities to the proposed name. Less money will be wasted if you have this done.

The government reviews the full name search report to ensure there are no conflicts before it allows you to register your business. Some Canadian jurisdictions such as the federal jurisdiction will reject a name even if it sounds like another name and is spelled differently.

When you order a Nuans Name Search or name search report with a search house normally the search house will do a preliminary name search as part of the service. You should ask this in advance or confirm this on the website of the search house. You should not have to pay for both a preliminary and a full name search separately. The only time a preliminary name search should be paid for separately is if you are registering a business name, proprietorship or partnership and the province or territory in which you register does not require a full name search. More about that below.

Having a Nuans name search in hand does not mean your name is going to be accepted. You should never receive a full Nuans name search report or similar name search without first having a preliminary name search performed. If the search house says this is not part of its service then you should look for another one. Any search house can order a Nuans name search but a qualified search house will pre-check the name for you to make sure you have a better chance of having your name accepted by the particular Canadian government without charging you an additional fee.

Think of it this way. Say you plan to incorporate a business with the name Johnson Lawn Services Ltd. The search house you are working with tells you there is no other name registered exactly as that. The search house does not bother to pre-check names as part of their service and there is a name already registered called Johnson Lawn Services Inc. Since the search house has told you there is no exact name you register your company. Mr. Johnson of Johnson Lawn Services Ltd. becomes aware that you have registered a company with almost the exact name except the ending. He considers this competition and since he has had his name for a number of years he decides to sue you to obtain an order to force you to change your company name. It is possible he could obtain an order such as this if he can prove your name is a conflict. This would cause you wasted time and money. Further, would you really want to have a company with a name that close to another company’s name. It would also be a problem for you.

The search house will provide the Nuans name search report or similar name search report to you by email and you should take some time to review the report to ensure for yourself that the name you wish to use is not too similar to another name already registered.

You can incorporate a company in Ontario that is different in any way. Considering the above example, the only difference is the ending of the name. Therefore it would be accepted. On the other hand if you were dealing with the federal government it would never be accepted for registration.

If you are registering a business in Alberta, Ontario and possibly some of the other provinces or territories in Canada, you do not need a name search in order to register your name. The government does not as a practice pre-check these types of names and therefore it is your responsibility to make sure you do not have a name similar to another name. You could still be taken to court if you do not ensure your name is different than others. Actually the corporate governments in Ontario and Alberta allow for business names to be registered that are exactly alike.

In a situation such as this you would want to purchase a preliminary name search. To conclude, in a case where you are registering a partnership, business name or sole proprietorship and a name search is not necessary you should purchase a preliminary name search. As a matter of fact, a lot of searches houses will check your name for free prior to registering a business name or a sole proprietorship or a partnership. If you are unclear about the website you are dealing with contact them. I am sure they would be glad to advise what their policy is.

Resources for Canadian Business Owners provides information about legal and government services for Canadian businesses as well as further information about an Incorporated Name Search .

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Advice On How To Pick A Name Before Incorporating A Company

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