Does a business name have to be registered to be protected?

[Deep]

Probably a stupid question but...

I'm looking to set up a small business and am struggling with a name because it's a fairly saturated market sector.

If another small business (in another part of the the country) has a name does that name have to be registered in some way for someone else not to use it as well?

Thanks

[Eric Mc]

There is no registration process in the UK for business names as such.

If you want to run your business trhrough a limited company, then the company will require a name and the company will need to be registered at Companies Hopuse - so that is a "name" registration process of sorts - although i reality you are registering the actual company, not its name.

[Deep]

Thank you.
So does that mean you can copy any business's name that doesn't trade under a limited company going by the same name?

[superlightr]

Deep said:

Thank you.
So does that mean you can copy any business's name that doesn't trade under a limited company going by the same name?

No - You cant pass yourself off as another business with the same name or that may cause confusion. ie you cant set up selling fried chicken and call yourself Kentucky chicken fried. Or use same/similar logos etc. ie you cant pass yourself off as another business.

is it the same trade, is the name likely to cause confusion are you piggy backing off the other business name. Being a company or not does not matter save only for registering at co house.

ie sole trader trading doing roofing in Eastbourne called Eastbourne Roofing and you want to set up another business called Roofing Eastbourne Ltd would open yourelf up to problems. BUT if you called yourself Sussex Roofing then that would be sufficiently different to be ok.

Edited by superlightr on Thursday 26th January 13:23

Edited by superlightr on Thursday 26th January 13:23

[StevieBee]

Deep said:

Thank you.
So does that mean you can copy any business's name that doesn't trade under a limited company going by the same name?

'Copy' is a strong word and suggests deliberate action.

If the two businesses are doing the same thing in the same sector, there is the chance you could be accused of 'passing-off' - that is pretending to be another company. It's illegal but unlikely to amount to anything unless you ignore any cease-and-desist order.

Even if the two business do different things in different sectors there's still the chance the original company may evoke such action if they deem your name being detrimental to their operation.

However, it's not something that's externally regulated so for any comeback to befall upon you, the other company would have to bring an action against you and a court support their case.

There are many companies that exist with the same name that are all similar in their nature. I know of at least six comms agencies that share the same name as mine, albeit with subtle variation. Other than finding them on Google, we've never crossed paths are are unlikely to and I've got better things to do than research who was the first with the name and what-not.

If you want to protect your name, you can Trade Mark it. However, such protection is only worthwhile if you would be prepared to enact remedy against those who breech the Trade Mark.

Edited by StevieBee on Thursday 26th January 15:07

[Simpo Two]

'Business' or Company?

There is always 'passing off' if someone copies you, but how enforceable it is in reality I don't know.

[StevieBee]

Simpo Two said:

There is always 'passing off' if someone copies you, but how enforceable it is in reality I don't know.

Passing-off can be a deliberate; i.e; proven deliberate intent to divert business away from business A to business B by business B pretending to be business A. In this case, company B may be charged and liable for losses determined by the court incurred by company B.

Or it can be unintentional where one company is unaware of the existence of the other. This is normally dealt with by means of a cease and desist notice issued by a Solicitor.

As to the enforceability of it, much depends on the location of the miscreant company. We had a doppelgänger company crop up in Asia that was a flagrant attempt to look like us, even copying and pasting content from our website and trying to replicate what our site looked like. The cost of dealing with this would have been huge and most likely, futile. In the end, such was the poor attempt they made, we reasoned that anyone who thought they were the real deal we probably wouldn't want to work with anyway so ignored it.

[anonymous-user]

superlightr said:

Deep said:

Thank you.
So does that mean you can copy any business's name that doesn't trade under a limited company going by the same name?

No - You cant pass yourself off as another business with the same name or that may cause confusion. ie you cant set up selling fried chicken and call yourself Kentucky chicken fried. Or use same/similar logos etc. ie you cant pass yourself off as another business.

is it the same trade, is the name likely to cause confusion are you piggy backing off the other business name. Being a company or not does not matter save only for registering at co house.

ie sole trader trading doing roofing in Eastbourne called Eastbourne Roofing and you want to set up another business called Roofing Eastbourne Ltd would open yourelf up to problems. BUT if you called yourself Sussex Roofing then that would be sufficiently different to be ok.

Edited by superlightr on Thursday 26th January 13:23

Edited by superlightr on Thursday 26th January 13:23

This is mostly right: you don’t need to register a business name to be able to protect it.

A trader or company can protect a business name or get up if there is some protectable goodwill in the name or get up, usually acquired by trading.

If a competitor adopts a name or get up that is objectively similar so as to generate the risk that the competitor is trading off the goodwill of the original trader, then that’s not permitted.

However, acquiring goodwill via trading is easier if you adopt a stylised get up and/or distinctive name. So, if your get up is plain type on a white background, your name is Eastbourne Roofing and you are a roofer in Eastbourne, it’s quite difficult to acquire protectable goodwill because your name is pretty generic. So a competitor using a stylised logo and some colours, calling itself Eastbourne Roofers, or Roofing Eastbourne may be ok because of the anodyne branding and name adopted by the original.

[jeremyc]

If you are just starting out then take this opportunity to choose a distinctive name that isn't likely to be confused with the others.

Especially if you are in the same line of business.

Unless, of course, you are hoping to take advantage of the existing businesses to steal trade ...

[Deep]

Thanks. I've changed the specifics but here's a good comparable.

Lets say there's a barbers in Manchester called Inspiration Hair. It's just another run of the mill barbers. It doesn't have the website Inspiration-Hair but do have a Facebook page with that name.

I want to open a barbers in London and for some reason using the name Inspiration Hair means a lot to me.
No one is going to travel from Manchester to London or vice versa for a haircut and you can't sell haircuts over the Internet. So in NO shape or form do I want to try and pretend that I am that business or related to that business, quite the opposite in fact.

The words Inspiration and Hair are important to me. If using exactly the wording Inspiration Hair is a no go then how about something like myinspiration-hair or yourinspiration-hair?

Thanks