A name for your corporation
An important decision to make when starting your business is choosing your business name. This name will become the business’ identity around which you will market your business products or services.
Many people already have a business name
in mind when they decide to start a business. However, it’s important that the
name is not already being used by another business to avoid confusion with
existing businesses. Accordingly, government registries require that the
proposed name is searched on the relevant government databases prior to filing
a business registration or articles of incorporation application to ensure that
the name you want to protect for your business is in fact available for you to
use, and that the name is not deceptively similar to a name that is already
registered. To ensure name availability, this requires searching the proposed
name and other similar variations.
Choosing a corporate name is a difficult task since it must conform to a number of legal requirements. Consequently, to increase the chances of your proposed name being accepted, it is recommended that you choose a name that both accurately describes your business and is as specific and distinct as possible.
If your proposed corporate name uses common or popular names, the chances of it being accepted decrease. Furthermore, you may be prohibited from using a corporate name which is either identical or deceptively similar to one that is already used by another corporation or competitor in your jurisdiction.
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