Protecting Your Business Name Think you have a clever name for your business? You might want to double check. Our Start-Up Legal Expert shows you how to find out if the name you want is available.

The issues revolving around naming your business are morecomplicated than simply picking a clever name for your start-up.The issues surrounding the choice of a name generally fall into twocategories: mandatory government requirements for registration ofbusiness names and optional registrations that provide morecomprehensive name protection.

Required Registrations

1. Trade or fictitious name. If you'll beusing a name for your business other than your personal name,you'll want to register it to ensure that other businessescan't use the name you've chosen. This registration processwill also help you avoid legal problems with competitors by keepingyou from choosing a name that's confusingly similar to that ofanother business. Registration of an assumed or fictitious name isalso referred to as a "doing business as" or dba. In moststates, this registration is done at the county level by fillingout a short form and paying a small fee.

Usually a sole proprietorship or a partnership requires such aregistration, but it may also be required of a corporation if thecompany will be operating under both the corporate name and a dba.For example, if you've incorporated your business as the XYZCorporation but will be operating as the Sunshine Bakery,you'll need to register the Sunshine Bakery as a dba unless, ofcourse, your first name is Sunshine and your last name isBakery.

2. Incorporating. As part of the process ofincorporating, you'll be registering your corporate name withthe secretary of state in the state you'll be doing business.This registration process will reveal whether any other businesshas a confusingly similar corporate name. Following the filing ofyour corporate papers, you have the right and the obligation to usethe corporate name throughout the state in which you filed.

However, you don't have the exclusive right to the namebecause other unincorporated businesses may already be using it asa trade name, and other businesses may be using the name as a tradeor service mark. In other words, your registration has provided youwith the exclusive right to use XYZ Inc. That is, your corporatename with the corporate designation such as Incorporated or Inc.,Corporation or Corp., Company or Co., Limited or Ltd. isprotected.

However, depending on the situation, prior use of the name as adba, trade or service mark by another business may prevent your useof the corporate name if use of the name will confuse customers.Therefore, it's always wise to conduct a name search usinggovernmental and nongovernmental sources such as telephone books,city directories and industry trade publications for yourindustry.

Optional Registrations

Whether you seek additional name protection beyond what'srequired for your business or your products or services depends forthe most part on the size of your business and whether you mightoperate beyond your local geographic area. It's a good idea toconduct a wider name search before choosing a name for yourbusiness if you anticipate operating regionally or nationally inthe future. To do so, you should conduct a search of the federalregister of trade and service marks. You may refer to www.uspto.gov for thepatent and trademark office information. If you conclude that thename you've chosen is available, you should look intoregistering the name as a business trademark or service mark.Although there's a cost attached to these registrations,it's far more costly to have to change a business, product orservice name in "midstream" because you've infringedon someone else's name.

Trademarks or service marks consist of two parts: the noun thattells what kind of product or service you're talking about (forexample tissues), and the descriptive word or words that identifyit as being different from all others (Kleenex). The besttrademarks or service marks are those such as Kleenex that arecoined words because they're distinctive, and you can keepothers from using them. If you're using a mark, be sure to:

• Capitalize the first letter.
• State on your packaging and/or advertising that your companyowns the mark.
• If you've registered the mark, use an R with a circlearound it to indicate this.
• If you've registered the mark only within your state or notat all, use the letters TM for trademark or SM service mark toindicate your ownership.
• Enforce your rights by notifying other businesses or the mediaif they're improperly using your mark.

Like every other business decision, the issues surroundingbusiness names can be complicated, and it's always wise to seekinformation and assistance. In addition to books and Web sites, youmay want to visit your local Small Business Development Center forindividualized consulting assistance at no charge.

Carlotta Roberts has a J.D. degree from Atlanta Law School.Having worked in the areas of business organization, contracts andemployer/employee relations, she's been a consultant tosmall-business owners since 1981.

The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author,not of Entrepreneur.com. All answers are intended to be general innature, without regard to specific geographical areas orcircumstances, and should only be relied upon after consulting anappropriate expert, such as an attorney or accountant.