Registering a Business Name, Registering a Company Name, Reserving a Company name, and registering a Trade Mark: an explanation

Christopher Balmford, MD

At Cleardocs, we sometimes get calls from people who are confused about company names and business names. They wonder:

• Aren’t they the same?
• What are the differences etc.?

This blog aims to help.

Why do people register names?

People register names, generally, for these 3 purposes:

• to set up a business, a trustee company, or another organisation — by registering a company, which involves choosing a name for the company;
• so as to have a trading name to trade under — for example, as a person, a partnership, or an organisation. They do this by registering a business name; and
• to protect intellectual property so other people can’t use the name. Usually, the best way to do this is by registering a trade mark. But registering a business name or a company name can help, see below.

Where do the various name registrations apply?

The names registrations apply as follows:

• business names are registered, and regulated, on a state and territory specific basis through the relevant government department in each state or territory. You can see a list of each state or territory’s organisation and their website here. You can register the business name online through those websites;
• company’s (and therefore their names) are registered Australia-wide through ASIC, that is the “Australian Securities & Investments Commission”; and
• trade marks are registered Australia-wide through IP Australia.

What names can you register through Cleardocs?

You can use Cleardocs:

• to register a company with the name of your choice, see here;
• to reserve a company name with ASIC, see here; and
• to register a trade mark to protect intellectual property in the name, see here.

How does a registered or reserved company name or registered business name limit other uses of the same name?

Business name registered If someone registers a name as a business name in any state, or territory, say South Australia, then:

• nobody else can get an Australian company with that name in Australia; but
• someone can register the same name as a business name in any other state or territory (apart from South Australia).

So the business name registration in one state or territory:

• blocks the business name in that state or territory (but not in any other state or territory); and
• blocks the company name registration throughout Australia (though the person who owns the business name can arrange to register a company with the same name — by the way, the Cleardocs interface specifically allows for this).

Company name registered If someone registers a company, then nobody else can register the same name as a business name in any other state or territory. That’s it — the company name registration blocks all business name registrations.

Company name reserved If someone reserves a company name, then nobody else can register the same name as a company name while the name is reserved. You can read about this on the ASIC site here. The information on ASIC's site doesn't say whether reserving a name as a company name prevents anyone registering the name as a business name. However, the customer service person at ASIC I spoke with said that it does. You can check that:

• by calling ASIC on 1300 300 630, then pressing 1 and 1 again and speaking to the person there; or
• by calling the government body that registers business names in your state or territory. Their websites are here.

How does registering a trade mark fit in?

If you register a trade mark, then that prevents anyone registering the same trade mark for the same classes of goods and services for which you registered your trade mark.

However, having a trade mark doesn’t stop anyone registering a business name or company name using your trade mark. But your trade mark registration does give you rights that you can protect (or try to protect) by suing a person who uses your trade mark in relation to the classes of goods and services for which you registered your trade mark.

As the explanation on IP Australia’s website puts it, a “. . . trade mark gives the registered owner exclusive use of the trade mark throughout Australia” for the relevant classes of goods and services. So you can use that exclusive right to stop someone from using your trade mark in their company name or business name. There’s useful information about trade marks on the IP Australia website here — IP Australia is the government body that registers trade marks.

You can read more about registering a trade mark through Cleardocs here. Our system help you to choose the classes for which you might consider registering your trade mark.

More information

You can use Cleardocs:

• to register a company, see here;
• to reserve a company name with ASIC, see here; and
• to register a trade mark to protect intellectual property in the name, see here.

You can call Cleardocs on 1300 307 343.

Is the Certificate of Registration for a company you order online through Cleardocs sufficient to give a bank?

Christopher Balmford, MD

The Certificate of Registration for a company that ASIC sends to Cleardocs electronically — and that Cleardocs provides to its customers electronically — is the original Certificate. The only way ASIC provides its standard Certificates is electronically.

The standard Certificate is enough to open a bank account and is what most companies use.

(Apart from the standard certificate, you can order a hardcopy printed “commemorative certificate” direct from ASIC. These commemorative certificates cost extra, $39.95 each or $34.95 each for 2 or more. There are 12 different designs, for example: Australian birds, Australian icons, Agriculture, Classic, Commerce, and Technology. But ASIC makes a commemorative certificate for you only if you specifically order one direct from ASIC after your company is registered. ASIC will then send the commemorative certificate to the company. It doesn’t send them to Cleardocs.)

Bank rejection? Occasionally when someone is trying to set up a bank account for a company, the bank rejects the Certificate. A bank that does this — or at least, the relevant branch that does this — is several years out of date with ASIC’s systems etc.

If a bank rejects your certificate and asks “for the original certificate”, then the thing to do is to get the person at the bank to check the above information with ASIC. They can do that by:

• calling ASIC on 1300 300 630;
• when listening to the options, they should press 1, then 1 again; and
• when they speak to the person at ASIC, they should explain that they registered the company through Cleardocs and the Certificate they have given the bank came electronically from Cleardocs.

ASIC will explain things to the bank.

You might like to call ASIC on the number etc. above to confirm all this for yourself.

You can order a company online through Cleardocs for $549.50

You can read an Overview of some things to consider when registering an Australian company

Fastest online company registration

Christopher Balmford MD

You know, I'm curious about the fastest anyone has registered a company online through Cleardocs. Way back when we launched in 2002, one of our first customers set — what we reckon is — the record. But maybe someone has done it faster since, or will do it faster soon. Let us know if you do.

The speed we enabled was unusual in 2002. When Cleardocs launched, we were the first purely online company registration provider. Through Cleardocs, our customers could, for the first time anywhere:

• log on,
  
• answer the questions on our interface,
  
• electronically lodge the application to register the company with ASIC, and
  
• receive the ACN and all the legal documents immediately by email.

It was pretty exciting stuff. In 2002, none of our competitors could do anything like it. Even if they enabled you to order through their website, someone at their end had to do something manually to register your company. So if you wanted a company at 6.30pm (or am!), it was likely to be tough. But at Cleardocs.com, it didn't matter what time it was, or what day it was, you could register a brand new company. You still can — we have people ordering companies 24/7. If ASIC's site is open etc. (and it pretty much always is), then you can register a company through Cleardocs.

Anyway back in 2002, one of our very first customers who had done a few company registrations with Cleardocs rang to say she wanted to know what the record was for the fastest company. Her name is Janette Boluch. I just spoke to her a few minutes ago. In 2002, she worked at Manning & Perry, now she is with Chris Wilson and Associates in Hawthorn in Melbourne. And she still uses Cleardocs. Thank you, Janette!

We reckon Janette still holds the record for:

"An Australian company registration through Cleardocs — from logging on, through answering all the questions, to getting the response from ASIC that the company is registered with an ACN."

Janette's time? 11.5 minutes. Let us know if you beat it.