Company Name Application and Approval process

The Name application in e-form 1A can be certified by a Practicing Company Secretary, Chartered Accountant and Cost Accountants, along with a search report stating that he / she has used the search facilities available on the portal of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. In such cases, the name will be made available by the system online to the applicant without backend processing by the Registrar of Companies (ROC).

CompaniesInn with its experiences team of Professionals helps you to get your company name approved within few hours.

Where a name has been made available online on the basis of certification of practicing professional in the manner stated above and later if it is found that the name ought not to have been allowed under provisions of section 20 of the Companies Act read with these Guidelines, the professional shall also be liable for penal action under provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 in addition to the penal action under Regulations of respective professional Institutes.

The Name application can also be signed by the applicant. In such cases, the application will be processed by the office of ROC and availability or non availability of name will be communicated to the applicant accordingly.

Any approved company name is liable to be withdrawn anytime before registration of the Company, if it is found later on that the name ought not to have been allowed. The ROC will pass a specific order giving reasons for withdrawal of name, with an opportunity to the applicant of being heard, before withdrawal of such name.

The name, if made available to the applicant, shall be reserved for sixty days from the date of approval. If, the proposed company has not been incorporated within such period, the name shall be lapsed and will be available for other applicants. No extension will be granted after expiry of sixty days from the date of approval.

Even after incorporation of the company, the Central Government has the power to direct the company to change the name under section 22 of the Companies Act, 1956, if it comes to his notice or is brought to his notice through an application that the name too nearly resembles that of another existing company or a registered trademark.

Selection of Company Name – Important points

The important point to be noted while selecting the company name is that the proposed name should not be undesirable and is identical with or too nearly resembling with the name of a Company / LLP already registered or names approved by ROC or a Registered Trademark or a Trademark for which an application is filed.

While determining whether a proposed name is identical with another, the following shall be disregarded:

1. The words Private, Pvt, Pvt., (P), Limited, Ltd, Ltd., LLP, Limited Liability Partnership
2. The words appearing at the end of the names – company, and company, co., co, corporation, corp, corpn, corp.;
3. The plural version of any of the words appearing in the name
4. The type and case of letters, spacing between letters and punctuation marks
5. Joining words together or separating the words, as this does not make a name distinguishable from a name that uses the similar, separated or joined words. Such as Ram Nath Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. will be considered as similar to Ramnath Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.;
6. The use of a different tense or number of the same word, as this does not distinguish one name from another. Such as, Excellent Industries will be similar to Excellence Industries and similarly Teen Murti Exports Pvt. Ltd. will be to Three Murti Exports Pvt. Ltd.;
7. Using different phonetic spellings or spelling variations, as this does not distinguish one name from another. For example, J.K. Industries limited is existing then J and K ndustries or Jay Kay Industries or J n K Industries or J & K Industries will not be allowed.
   Similarly if a name contains numeric character like 3, resemblance shall be checked with 'Three' also
8. The addition of an internet related designation, such as .COM, .NET, .EDU, .GOV, ORG, .IN, as this does not make a name distinguishable from another, even where (.) is written as 'dot';
9. The addition of words like New, Modern, Nav, Shri, Sri, Shree, Sree, Om, Jai, Sai, The, etc., as this does not make a name distinguishable from an existing name such as New Bata Shoe Company, Nav Bharat Electronic etc. Similarly, if it is different from the name of the existing company only to the extent of adding the name of the place, the same shall not be allowed. For example, 'Unique Marbles Delhi Limited' cannot be allowed if 'Unique Marbles Limited' is already existing.
   Such names can be allowed if a no objection from the existing company by way of Board resolution is produced / submitted for allowing the proposed name.
10. Different combination of the same words, as this does not make a name distinguishable from an existing name, e.g., if there is a company in existence by the name of "Builders and Contractors Limited" , the name "Contractors and Builders Limited" should not be allowed
11. Exact Hindi translation of the name of an existing company in English especially an existing company with a reputation. For example, Hindustan Steel Industries Ltd. will not be allowed if there exists a company with name 'Hindustan Ispat Udyog Limited'.

Company Name – General Conditions

1. It is not necessary that the proposed name should be indicative of the main object of the company.
2. If the Company's main business is finance, housing finance, chit fund, leasing, investments, securities or combination thereof, such name shall not be allowed unless the name is indicative of such related financial activities, viz., Chit Fund/ Investment/ Loan, etc.
3. If the name includes the words indicative of a separate type of business constitution or legal person or any connotation thereof, the same shall not be allowed. For eg: cooperative, sehkari, trust, LLP, partnership, society, proprietor, HUF, firm, Inc., PLC, GmbH, SA, PTE, Sdn, AG etc.
4. Abbreviated name such as 'BERD limited' or '23K limited' cannot be given to a new company. However the companies well known in their respective field by abbreviated names are allowed to change their names to abbreviation of their existing name (for Delhi Cloth Mills limited to DCM Limited) after following the requirement of the Companies Act. Further, if the name is general like Cotton Textile Mills Ltd., or Silk Manufacturing Ltd., the name cannot be allowed and if name is specific like Calcutta Cotton Textiles Mills Limited or Lakshmi Silk Manufacturing Company Limited, the same can be allowed.
5. If the proposed name is identical to the name of a company dissolved as a result of liquidation proceeding, the name cannot be not be allowed for a period of 2 years from the date of such dissolution. Moreover, if the proposed name is identical with the name of a company which is struck off in pursuance of action under section 560 of the Act, then the same cannot be allowed for 20 years from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.
6. If the proposed names include words such as Insurance Bank, Stock Exchange, Venture Capital , Asset Management, Nidhi , Mutual Fund etc., the name can be be allowed with a declaration by the applicant that the requirements mandated by the respective Act/ Regulator, such as IRDA, RBI, SEBI, MCA etc. have been complied with by the applicant.
7. If the proposed name includes the word 'State', the same shall be allowed only in case the company is a government company. Also, if the proposed name is containing only the name of a continent, country, state, city such as Asia limited, Germany Limited, Haryana Limited, Mysore Limited, the same cannot be allowed;
8. If the proposed name contains any word or expression which is likely to give the impression that the company is in any way connected with, or having the patronage of, the Central Government, any State Government, or any local authority, corporation or body constituted by the Central or any State Government under any law for the time in force, unless the previous approval of Central Government has been obtained for the use of any such word or expression;
9. If a foreign company is incorporating its subsidiary company, the original name of the holding company as it is can be allowed with the addition of word India or name of any Indian state or city, if available otherwise as per the Guidelines.

Trade Mark Registration and Company / LLP Name

The ultimate protection of a name is secured only by way of a Trademark. The exclusive usage of Business and Trade name are protected under Trademark Registration.

Registering a Company or LLP with a particular Name does not protect the name as such. The only protection by way of Company / LLP name is that another company or LLP will not be registered with the same name or closely resembling name. If any other person gets the Trademark registered for your company name, he gets the priority and is empowered to take legal action against your company for infringement of Trademark and even the trademark owner can remove the registered name of the Company or LLP.

For eg. CompaniesInn.com LLP is registered as an LLP. LLP Law protects the name from registering another LLP / Company with same name CompaniesInn.com LLP or any other closely resembling names. The name 'Companiesinn.com' as such is not protected under LLP Act. 'CompaniesInn.com' is also a registered Trademark under Class 45 of Trade Mark Law. The trademark registration provides that ultimate protection to the name from use by anyone in any form of organisation for the services provided by CompaniesInn.

Once a Trademark is registered, it gives the protection on exclusive basis for the products or services under the class where the name is registered.

Company Name availability Guidelines 2011, gives priority to a registered trademark and a Trademark for which an application filed while making company name application. If your name is unique and if you wish priority for the name, it is advisable to file a Trademark Application before filing company name application.

Company / LLP Name, Business Name, Brand and Logo – How does it differ?

Company name is generally referred as the name of organisation like CompaniesInn.com LLP. Business Name refers the trading name such as 'Companiesinn.com'. Brand name refers to the name of a product or service such as 'IncorporationKiosk' or 'CompanyKit' or '24hrIncorportaion etc.

Logo means the picture view of brand. The logo need not contain name or taglines. When the logo contains business / brand name or taglines it is referred as Composite Mark.

To get the right protection for Company Name, Business Name, Brand and Logo, it should be rightly applied with correct classification of Products or services. Under Trade Mark Rules the products and services are classified under 45 classes. It is very important to make the application in correct class to get protection of your name for the referred products and services.

Who should register your Domain Name?

In the internet world of business, Domain name of your business is very important. One can register the domain name from any accredited registrar by paying few hundred rupees. It is as simple as creating an email id. It is important that you manage your domain name. Do not let a third party to register your domain name. If you let a third party to register the domain name, it will result like you register your trademark in the name of an unknown person and it may create obstacles in your business tomorrow.