No more 'opportunist' company registrations
Since 1 October 2008, businesses have benefited from changes in the rules about the registration of company names. Prior to this date, a trade mark owner had limited protection against someone trying to register one of their brands as a company name. The registration would only be refused if it was identical to that of a company already incorporated under the Companies Act. Under part of the Companies Act 2006, any business that has goodwill in a trading name can register an objection to a new adjudicator when someone attempts to register a company with a similar name. Before these changes, you had to have a matching registered company name to have the right to object. That is no longer the case. In addition to the new rules, the introduction of the adjudicator should mean a faster and less expensive resolution to a dispute. A statement from the UK Intellectual Property Office said that the new rules were designed to prevent opportunistic abuse. "An example of an opportunistic company name registration is when someone registers one or more variations of the name of a well-known company in order to get the latter company to buy the registration(s)," it said. "Another example might be where someone knows that a merger is about to take place between and so registers one or more variations of the name that the newly formed commercial entity is likely to require. The registration(s) would be opportunistic in that the registration holder’s purpose in obtaining the registration was to cash in on the other entity’s fame." For more information and to check if a company name has been registered go to the Companies House website. (Source: Direct Marketing Association - DMA) http://ww.admar.co.ukhttp://www.admaronline.co.uk