I have observed lately that most names are not available anymore for Registration/Incorporation at the the Corporate Affairs Commission. I am not sure if this is a general observation though. If yes, please drop your observation in the comment section. This is also almost the same with trademark registrations too so I have something to say about this. I think smart business owners and founders are already making smart moves to formalizing their business ideas, protecting their brand and this to me is a very good development. However, there are still some business owners that have decided to wait until after 5 years before they would decide to proceed with the registration. Trust me, this is not a good move at all. Apart from the fact that not registering your business or your company while operating is non-compliance with regulations and could have consequences, it could also lead to loss of grant opportunities and even the loss of the name. My advise is this; As soon as you start the business or the founded the start-up and you are sure about operating it, formalize it by registering or incorporating it with the Corporate Affairs Commission before you start printing flyers and labels. Also, identify your unique brand identity and protect it by trademarking it. PS: Most of my connections here do not know that I am an expert in assisting Business Owners and Founders in formalizing their business ideas and protecting their brands. Well, this is part of my expertise and services and I now have over 100 clients in that space. Do you have a business venture/idea in mind? Send me a DM now for all the legal assistant you need to actualizing your dream Company.
I agree with you. However, I think the solution would be for entrepreneurs to create more inverted names than generic names. For example, OAE law Practice is a more registeranle name than Virtuous law pratice.
I have the same observation. Just this past week, I conducted two searches that came out as already existing. It’s crazy, but we definitely need to explore more distinct and non-conflicting ways of naming businesses.
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2moWell, I think why it feels so is because CAC recently reviewed their regulation. Before now, just a name difference is enough to reserve the name, but now you have to have two distinguishing words from an existing entity for your reservation to be approved. In California for example, two people can reserve and register two different entities with similar name. The only way you can get the other person off the name is to make an application to court for IP protection. The single difference in our rule makes the process a little more stressful. But I think I like our practice direction here.