Sep 28 2011
Rules for using company names
We have posted a few months ago an article: Think about the company name before you start. It’s more focus on the creativity part than technical part. There is quite a few rules to understand before you register company.
The name of the company has to fulfill a few rules:
1. The name can’t be already in a use or being registered. You can get a result once you visit the local web online search – e.g. for Hong Kong can be found on Companies Registry’s Cyber Search Center. If you don’t in the search result the company name you have put, you can use it however there is still a few rules.
2. The name as similar. E.g. “Computer Technology” and “Computer Tech” are regarded as the same names. Startupr Limited or Startupr Copr. are the same company as well – only the suffix has been changed ( the suffix doesn’t make any differences).
3. One of the biggest issue once you’re choosing a company name: Trade marks! Always pay an attention if your chosen name does not have any registered trademark. If the trade mark is not register in Hong Kong, it might be registered in some another jurisdiction which keeps the the right of the trade mark. For that purpose you are better to find out whether the name hasn’t been in a use.
If you tell us to register a name “Nokia plus, Ltd.”, it might be registered however later on you can be suite for a duplicate of an existing name. For that purpose, it will be better if you get the notarized consent whether the name is not considered as a duplicate.