The Company Merchant Limited

Company Formation - The Company Name

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Category: Company Formation Factsheets

Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 March 2011 22:56

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You need to know the name of the company you want to form. You may think you can pick whichever name you want but there are some restrictions. Firstly, if someone else has already registered it, you cannot register it again.

You may think that that your initials or your surname is likely to be available as a name but its always worth checking. Its not a problem if you submit a company formation with a name which already exists - Companies House will just reject it and it can be resent with a new company name for no further cost. As of October 2009 when the new Companies Act 2006 went live, you can no longer simply add other words to existing names on the register to be accepted as a new company name - AISJB Services Ltd might already be on the register but you can't register AISJB Building Services (UK) Ltd for example unless you either already own the company that is on the register or alternatively you can get a letter of non objection from the owners of the existing company.

Ideally you should also do an internet search for the name you are looking for and check the trademarks registry if you think your name might infringe on a trademark http://www.ipo.gov.uk/tm/t-find/t-find-text/ is the place to check for the UK. This isnt as much of an issue for Bloggs Building and Destruction Services Ltd type names but its always worth checking. On the flip side, you can choose to register your name as a trademark yourself. We have trademark fact sheets online but in simple terms, trademarks are put into classes so you can register a name in one specific class leaving all the other classes untouched. Registrations of trademarks are for 10 years so whilst the initial cost is high (around £600 - £700 for the first class in the UK) it is in effect £60 - £70 per year, which, if your product or service becomes highly marketable, you don't want other people registering names similar to yours. Trademarks give you specific rights - whereas without a trademark you are trusting to be able to show a court the goodwill built up in your name to prevent someone else from getting a similar name. Trademarks can of course protect product names and logo's as well as your company name.