Choosing a business name is up in the top 10 things, maybe even number 1, you need to do before starting a business. But how do you pick a business name that won’t create legal issues further down the road? we guide you through the basics to find answer is my business name available?
Table of Contents
Can I Change Our Business Name?
You may decide you want to change your business name. I.T. Recipes started as Small Business I.T. We didn’t have any clients. Our website wasn’t even online yet, so changing the name didn’t have any consequences.
We may also get forced to change our name further down the road if we don’t do our research. Remember WWF now WWE? WWE had an agreement with the World Wildlife Foundation to use WWF that expired and never renewed, so it forced them to change names. There is a lot of work and a lot of money to get it done properly.
Part of the reason we changed our name was because we were using SBIT a lot. This is used by ‘Small Business in Travel’ and ‘SBIT Hospitality’ (Who already offers IT services).
Throwing away everything with your company name on costs hundreds, maybe thousands. Get it right the first time by asking Is My Business Name Available.
Should I Trademark Our Business?
Yes, and no.
Trademarks are worth money. They stop competitors imitating you, can be sold for sizable sums of money, licenced to franchises and even used for mortgages if there is a high enough value in it.
It costs £170 in the UK to submit a trademark. You might decide that in the first year it’s an unnecessary expense. Further down the road, we WILL need to consider trademarking to avoid any issues.
To trademark a UK business, go to https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmtext
Another Company Has The Same Name
If another company is using your name, they can demand you stop. This is even more serious if they are in the same industry as you. Apple Computers (The iPhone maker) and Apple Corps (The record company) have been to court several times, leading to expensive settlements. Mainly caused by Apple Computers moving into the music industry with iTunes.
To avoid this, research, research, and research before going ‘live’.
Before We Pick A Business Name
Before we start researching our business name, lets write down our business name ideas. After that write down possible website addresses. The reason we do this is to make sure when we write the website address there is not a hidden word.
You don’t want to be like the store Pen Island*.
| Business Name | Website |
| Pen Island | penisland.com |
| Who Represents | whorepresents.com |
| Speed Of Art | speedofart.com |
Trademark Classifications
Before we pick a business name and lets do our research. Firstly we will search everywhere, it doesn’t take long. We will be looking for companies with similar names and if these companies are in the same classification.
There are 45 different classifications for trademarks worldwide, ranging from handbags to plumbing. We can have the same name as a company in a different classification as long as your logo, etc is clearly different. You can’t create a new search engine called Poogle. It’s too similar to Google, who exists in the same classification.
If you want to add another classification to your trademark. Take this into consideration. A clothing company (classification 25) selling T-shirts might want to sell handbags (classification 18) a year down the line. It costs £50 to add a classification to the UK.
Is My Business Name Available?
Once we picked a few business names we need to perform a little research to answer is my business name available. We won’t be just searching for our business name, we will also search for any alternatives. We searched for I.T. Recipes, IT Recipes, Information Technology Recipes, and ITR.
For each search, we only focused on the first 5 pages. It’s also worth noting the direct matches that appear, just so you know what will come up when a client searches for you.
| Company Name | I.T. Recipes | Small Business I.T. |
|---|---|---|
| Alternative Names: | IT Recipes, Information Technology Recipes, ITR | Small Business IT, Small Business Information Technology, SBIT |
| 1 Match Recipes for IT In Direct Matches Various food blog websites | 5 Matches Small Business I.T. Support, Seasonal Businesses In Travel, SBIT College, SBIT Hospitality, SBIT Training Academy In Direct Matches Various small businesses I.T. support sites | |
Bing | 1 Match Recipes for IT In Direct Matches Various food blog websites | 5 Matches Small Business I.T. Support, Seasonal Businesses In Travel, SBIT College, SBIT Hospitality, SBIT Training Academy In Direct Matches Various small businesses I.T. support sites |
| Yahoo | 1 Match Recipes for IT In Direct Matches Various food blog websites | 5 Matches Small Business I.T. Support, Seasonal Businesses In Travel, SBIT College, SBIT Hospitality, SBIT Training Academy In Direct Matches Various small businesses I.T. support sites |
| 0 Matches | 6 Matches Small Business I.T. Services, Small Business I.T. Tools, Small Business I.T. Solutions, Skill Based I.T., SBIT Training Academy, SBIT WLL | |
| 0 Matches In Direct Matches Pasta Recipes IT | 1 Match Nkumba university SBIT Society In Direct Matches People using SBIT instead of S*&T | |
| 0 Matches In Direct Matches Various recipe company’s | ++ Matches Small Business IT Support, Small Business Managed IT Services, Small Business IT Melbourne, Sbit Hospitality ICT Services, SBIT Group, LLC, SBIT AG In Direct Matches IT for small business, Small Business Advocacy Council, Small Business Life The list is so long for this we won’t include all of the results | |
| Companies House* | 0 Matches In Direct Matches Various recipe companys | ++ Matches SBIT Ltd, SBIT Services Limited, SBIT Support Limited, SBIT Solutions Limited, S.B.I.T. Developments Limited, SBITRIS Transport Ltd, Small Business I.T. Limited, Small Business IT Consultancy Limited, Small Business IT Services Limited, Small Business IT Support Limited The list is so long for this we won’t include all of the results |
| Intellectual Property Office* | 0 Matches This search even brought up Lucky Strike cigarettes | 1 Match SBIT |
| European Union Intellectual Property Office * ** | 0 Matches Various results for ITR | 1 Match Easyoffice Small Business I.T. That Fits Various results for SBIT |
**Select TMView, this will access various countries trademark office
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