About Business Names

Chapter 4: Starting a Business - Page 4.2

About Business Names

We are talking about the name of your business in this section, not your trademarks, or service marks, logos, or slogans. We are not attorneys, we do not give legal advice, so be sure to check with an attorney early on as you build your business. Trademark law protects product names, logos, trade names, and even some slogans as trademarks or service marks. Copyright law protects works of art, fiction, movies, literature, sculpture, and other creative works. Business law, however, does not fully guarantee you the exclusive use of your business name. To get close to exclusivity, you have to be first, you have to be national, and you have to be alert.

Owning and Establishing a Business Name

The most common misunderstanding about business names is about registering, protecting, and reserving business names. You can't reserve a business name completely; you can't have exclusive use. A business name is a lot like a personal name, in that the first or oldest John Smith cannot claim exclusive use of that name. He can't make all the other John Smiths change their names. So too, the first Smith's Restaurant can't stop all other Smith's Restaurants from using that same name. McDonald's Hamburgers can't make McDonald's Hardware Store change its name, and McDonald's Hardware Store in Manhattan can't sue McDonald's Hardware Store in San Francisco.

However, just as you have rights to your own identity, so does your company. One John Smith can sue another John Smith for using his identity, having bills sent to the wrong address, or purposely confusing people. McDonald's Hamburgers can sue just about anybody trying to use McDonald's for a business selling fast foods.

The confusion starts because business names are registered by different authorities in different places and on different levels.

The first and simplest business name is your own name, which might be enough for John Smith using Smith Consulting or operating Smith's Restaurant. This kind of business name normally requires no additional paperwork, although most business owners end up registering a name anyhow to establish their legal claim to it.

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