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Company Name Guidelines

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Company Name Guidelines

Company name approval and allotment process in India is admistered by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) as per the Name Availability Guidelines 2011 (NAG 2011). As per the Name Availability Guidelines 2011, no company should be registered with an undesirable name. A name is considered to be undesirable if it is identical with or nearly resembling with: a. The name of a company in existence and such a name is already approved by the Registrar of Companies; b. The name of a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) in existence or a name already approved by Registrar of LLPs; or c. A registered trade mark or a trade mark for which an application is filed under the Trade Marks Act, 1999. While submitting an application for a specific company name, the following points should be considered: 1. Use of the search facility available on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs' (MCA) portal to check the similarity/resemblance of proposed name(s) with the names of Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) already registered or for which approval has been already granted. 2. The proposed name does not infringe on any registered trade mark or a trade mark for which an application is already filed. 3. The proposed name is not in violation of the provisions of Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 or as amended from time to time. 4. The use of the proposed name(s) should not constitute an offence under any law. 5. The proposed name is not considered offensive to or by any section of society. Read the following sections for detailed information on choosing and registering a name for your Company a. b. c. d. e. Company Name Application and Approval process Selection of Company Name Important Conditions Company Name General Conditions Trade Mark Registration and Company / LLP Name Company / LLP Name, Business Name, Brand and Logo How does it differ? f. Who should register your Domain Name?

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Company Name Application and Approval process

a. Certification by a Practicing Professional: The application for a new company name should be submitted in e-form 1A. The filled application can be certified by a practicing Company Secretary, Chartered Accountant or Cost Accountant. The application must be accompanied with a search report stating that the applicant/certifying entity has used the 'name search' facility on the MCA portal. In such cases, the selected name, if available will be directly assigned by the online system, without further backend processing by the Registrar of Companies (ROC) subject to certain conditions. Filing of Incorporation documents in respect of such names shall not be allowed as per below timelines: If name is approved on or before 11.00 AM of any working day then incorporation documents shall not be filed before 7.00 PM of the

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same working day. If name is approved after 11.00 AM of any working day or at any time on holiday/ non-working day then incorporation documents shall not be filed before 7.00 PM of the next working day. During verification, if the RoC finds that the approved name ought not to have been allotted, the same shall be liable to be withdrawn after giving an opportunity of being heard to the applicant. At CompaniesInn.com, a team of experienced professionals helps you in getting your desired company name approved within a few hours subject to our terms and conditions.

b. Application Signed by Applicant: An application for a new company name can be submitted to the ROC by the applicant. In such cases, the application is processed by the Registrar's office and availability or non-availability of the selected name is communicated to the applicant. Any company name approved can be withdrawn any time before the company registration is complete, if it is found later that the name should not have been allotted. The ROC passes a detailed order providing reasons for such withdrawal. Applicants are given an opportunity to present their case as to why the name should not be withdrawn, before the final withdrawal order is passed. Names approved and assigned by the ROC are valid for a period of sixty days from the date of approval. If the proposed company is not incorporated within this period, the allotment lapses and the name in question is made available to other applicants. No further extensions are allowed once the initial period of sixty days from the date of approval has passed. Even after incorporation of the company, the Central Government has the power to direct the company to change its name under section 22 of the Companies Act, 1956, under two circumstances. i. One, where it comes to the Government's notice; ii. It is brought to the Government's notice through a third-party application; that the name in question closely or nearly resembles an existing company name or a registered trademark.

Selection of Company Name Important Considerations

In determining whether a proposed company name is identical to or closely resembles another, the following words/terms are disregarded: a. The words 'Private', 'Pvt', 'Pvt.', (P), 'Limited', 'Ltd', 'Ltd.', 'LLP', 'Limited Liability Partnership'; b. The following words if appearing at the end of the names 'company', 'and company', 'co.', 'co', 'corporation', 'corp', 'corpn', 'corp.', etc; c. Plural versions of any of the above words appearing in the name; d. The type and case of letters, spacing between letters and punctuation marks; e. Joining words together or separating them, as this does not make a name distinguishable from a name that uses similar separated or joined words. Example: Ram Nath Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. will be considered as similar to Ramnath Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.; f. The use of a different tense or number of the same word, as this does not distinguish one name from another. Example: Excellent Industries is considered similar to Excellence Industries; and similarly, Teen Murti Exports Pvt. Ltd. is similar to Three Murti Exports Pvt. Ltd.; g. Using different phonetic spellings or spelling variations, as this does not distinguish one name from another. Example: if J.K. Industries limited is an existing name, then variations such as J and K Industries, Jay Kay Industries, J n K Industries or J & K Industries are not allowed. Similarly if a name contains a numeric character like 3, resemblance with existing names where 'Three' is included are also checked. h. The addition of an Internet-related de signation, such as .COM, .NET, .EDU, .GOV, ORG, or .IN, as this does not make a name distinguishable from another, even where (.) is written as 'dot'; i. 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' already exists. Such names can be allowed if a No-Objection certificate from the existing company (by a Board Resolution) is produced, allowing the proposed name to be allotted. j. Different combinations of the same words, as these do not make the name distinguishable from an existing name. For example, if a company with the name "Builders and Contractors Limited" exists, then another company with the name "Contractors and Builders Limited" is not allowed. k. 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 objective of the company. If the proposed name contains any activity word, it must be indicative of the main objective of the company. 2. If the Company's main business is finance, housing finance, chit fund, leasing, investments, securities or combination thereof, the name should

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be indicative of such financial activities, viz., Chit Fund/ Investment/ Loan etc. 3. If the name includes words indicative of a separate type of business structure or legal person or any connotation thereof, the same shall not be allowed. For example, 'cooperative', 'Sahkari', 'trust', 'LLP', 'partnership', 'society', 'proprietor', 'HUF', 'firm', 'Inc.', 'Plc', 'GmbH', 'SA', 'Pte', 'Sdn', 'AG' etc. 4. Abbreviated names such as 'BERD limited' or '23K limited' cannot be allotted to new companies. However, companies that are well-known in their respective fields by abbreviated names are allowed to change their names to such abbreviations of their existing name, once requirements for such changes as mandated by the Companies Act are fulfilled. Further, generic names like Cotton Textile Mills Ltd. or Silk Manufacturing Ltd. are not allowed. However, specific names such as Calcutta Cotton Textiles Mills Limited or Lakshmi Silk Manufacturing Company Limited are allowed. 5. If the proposed name is identical to the name of a company dissolved through liquidation proceedings, the name cannot be allotted for a period of two years from the date of such dissolution. Moreover, if the proposed name is identical with the name of a company which is struck-off from the Companies' Register, as a result of action under section 560 of the Companies Act; such names cannot be allotted for a period of twenty years from the date of publication of such action in the Official Gazette. 6. If the proposed name includes words such as 'Insurance', 'Bank', 'Stock Exchange', 'Venture Capital', 'Asset Management', 'Nidhi', 'Mutual Fund', etc. the name is allotted if a declaration is made by the applicant, to the effect that requirements mandated by the respective Acts and regulatory authorities, such as IRDA, RBI, SEBI, MCA, etc. have been fulfilled. 7. If the proposed name includes the word 'State', the same shall be allowed only in the case of a government company. Also, if the proposed name contains the name of a continent, country, state or city, such as Asia limited, Germany Limited, Haryana Limited, Mysore Limited; the same is not 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; such a name cannot be allotted unless the previous approval of the Central Government has been obtained for the express 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, provided other requirements as per the 2011 Guidelines are met.

Trade Mark Registration and Company/LLP Name

The ultimate protection for a company name is secured only by way of a Trademark. The exclusive usage of Business and Trade names are protected by trademark registration. Registering a company or LLP with a particular name does not provide complete protection, except consideration that another company or LLP will not be registered with the same or a closely-resembling name. If any other person registers a trademark using your preferred company name, he/she gains priority of and is empowered to take legal action against your company for infringement of the trademark and can even request for the removal of such registered name. For example, CompaniesInn.com LLP is registered as an LLP. LLP laws protect the name from being registered by another LLP/company. But the name 'CompaniesInn.com' per se is not protected under the LLP Act. However, 'CompaniesInn.com' is also a registered Trademark under Class 45 of Trade Mark Law. Trademark registration provides maximum protection of the name, barring its use by anyone in any form of organisation for delivering services provided by CompaniesInn.com. Once a Trademark is registered, it gives the protection on an exclusive basis for all products or services under the class where the name is registered. The 'Company Name Availability Guidelines 2011' also gives priority to a registered trademark and to trademarks for which an application is filed while submitting a company name application. If your company name is unique and you'd like to retain exclusive and priority usage of such name, it is advisable to file a Trademark Application before filing a company name application.

Trademarks - Company/LLP Name, Business Name, Domain Name Brand and Logo How does it differ?
A company name generally refers to the name of a business organisation, e.g. CompaniesInn.com LLP. A business name refers to the trading name, such as 'CompaniesInn.com'. A brand name refers to the name of a product or service such as 'IncorporationKiosk' or 'CompanyKit', provided by the company, CompaniesInn.com LLP. A logo is the pictorial or symbolic representation of a brand and it need not contain names or taglines. When the logo includes business/brand name or taglines it is referred to as a Composite Mark. To get the maximum protection for a company or business name, brand and logo; applications with the correct classification o f products and/or services must be made. Under Trade Mark Rules, products and services are categorised under 45 classes. It is indeed crucial to file an application under the correct class to get protection of your name for specified products and services.

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Internet Domain - Who should register your Domain Name?

In the Internet world, a 'domain' name for your business is very important. You can register your preferred domain name with any accredited domain registrar and the cost of such registration is nominal. The process is as simple as creating an email ID. However, it is critical that you manage (protect) your domain name. Do not let a third party register your preferred domain name before you do so. The result of letting a third party register the specified domain name, is similar to allowing your company name or trade mark being registered in the name of someone else; and you might face countless future obstacles in operating your business in the future.

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