Do you own your business name?

Great question. The answer lies somewhere between maybe and maybe not. If you are not careful, your business name may be a liability instead of an asset. You registered your business name (trade name) in Ontario and paid $60 for five years. The Ontario government issued you a master business licence and a Business Identification Number. With that in hand, you spent thousands on signage and marketing collateral with the expectation that your rights to your business name had been officially recognized. Unfortunately, registration of a business name in Ontario does not provide the registrant with exclusivity. It doesn’t even stop registration of identical names. Having said that, usage of a name that is the same as (or confusingly similar to) the business name, corporation name or trademark of an existing business could result in legal liability. The onus is on the subsequent registrant to avoid such situations. The registrant of a business name who has suffered damages because someone else has registered the same name (or one that is deceptively similar) can sue (1) to recover compensation for damages suffered, and (2) for a court order cancelling the registration of the subsequently registered and deceptively similar name. Corporation names are the formal names of corporations as they appear in the articles of incorporation. They end in Inc., Ltd., Corp., or one of the full version of those short forms. Identical corporation names cannot be incorporated in Ontario, but deceptively similar names can be registered. Again, the onus is on the registrant to avoid confusion. There is an additional step in the registration of a corporation name of a Federal (CBCA) corporation. There is a gatekeeper of sorts that will not allow registration of a corporation name that the gatekeeper considers deceptively similar to an existing business name. There is some comfort that comes with knowing the gatekeeper has allowed your chosen name, but it should not be considered a guarantee that your name is protected. The most protection is offered by a trademark. A registered trademark provides exclusive rights to use a mark (a word, phrase, design, or other manner of distinguishing goods and services) in association with particular goods and services. However, not all business names or corporate names are trademarks. So there you have it. If the name you do (or propose to do) business under will a valuable asset, take the time to select a name that you can demonstrate with some degree of certainty that it won’t become an unexpected liability.