Domain name restrictions ??

[MikeJDS]

Need a bit of advice please...

Scenario:
Okay, you have thought of a good name for your business and you already own the domain name.

Ex. Lets say you owned gardeningbiz.co.uk for a number of years and you now went to register the name "Gardening Biz" at Companies House but alas its already taken.

Would their be a problem with registering the name "Gardening Biz Group LTD." and still use that domain name for your business?
Also assuming the other extensions for that name are not in use by said company.


Cheers
Mike

 

[accelerator]

My understanding is that you should only be concerned with what trademarks have been registered, visit ipo.gov.uk and check online. It is only trademarks that confer intellectual property rights and therefore could be used to take a domain off you.

My understanding is also that the simple act of registering a company will not confer intellectual property rights.

This is not legal advice though!

Rgds

 

[Aiden Roberts]

http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/gbhtml/gp1.shtml

This might help scroll down to naming your business

 

[MikeJDS]

Thanks for the reply Chris.

Forgot to mention its NOT Trademarked.

Still wasn't sure though.

Regards
Mike

 

[MikeJDS]

Thanks for the link Aiden - Will have a read.

 

[MikeJDS]

http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/gbhtml/gp1.shtml

This might help scroll down to naming your business

Looking at #6 its reading to me as NO.
TBH its all jargon to me.

q.

If two company names are so similar they are likely to confuse the public as to which company is which, then they are the 'same as'. To determine whether a name is the 'same as' an existing name the regulations set out:


'Catering Limited' is the 'same as'

Catering UK Limited
Catering.co.uk PLC
Catering International Ltd
Catering Company Services Public Limited Company
q.

Mike

 

[Aiden Roberts]

I am no expert but it reads to me if they are very similar then the company name cant be registered but the company could be xyz.ltd trading as gardening biz. I would ring them and ask them.

 

[Bailey]

You can have multiple names the same at Companies House register. And there often is, even for the same business type. Theres no restriction or class type (as in Trademarks)

Registration at Companies house is to identify the business as a entity in its own right, this then separates the business liabilities and ownerships etc

 

[stellar73]

You can have multiple names the same at Companies House register. And there often is, even for the same business type.

Are you sure about this Bailey?

From gov.uk: "The names of all private limited companies in the UK must end in either ‘Limited’ or ‘Ltd’ and the name can’t be the same as any other name on the Companies House index of names"

I registered a ltd company online last year. Most of the online registration agents will throw out any attempt to register a name that is the same or "too similar" to another name automatically, at least the one I used does this UK-Plc.net

 

[bluerock]

You can have multiple names the same at Companies House register. And there often is, even for the same business type. Theres no restriction or class type (as in Trademarks)

Registration at Companies house is to identify the business as a entity in its own right, this then separates the business liabilities and ownerships etc

You cannot have as an example:
xyz Ltd company number 0001
xyz Ltd company number 5362

you would have to reg "xyz uk" Ltd and even if you did that xyz ltd have 12 months to lodge a complaint on the grounds that it is confusingly similar. Once the 12 month period is over then xyz Ltd cannot complain about your name.

If Gardening biz Ltd is registered then simply go for gardening biz uk Ltd

 

[MikeJDS]

Thanks for all the replies.

I'll chance my arm at CH and see what they say, hopefully I'll get a definitive answer one way or the other.

So with regards to the 'domain name end' of the question... So it doesn't come and bite me!
Can I assume I'd be safe as someone else suggested because the name isn't trademarked?
Is that the only thing I would have to worry about?

Thanks
Mike