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To register a business name, it must be available and acceptable. When registering your business name, we take into account the provisions in the Business Names Act 1962 and the Principal Direction by the Minister.
Is your name available?
Before you register a business name with us, you should do some checks to make sure that it isn't already registered.
Other people may already have rights to the name you want, whether as a registered trademark, a company name or a registered business name.
We perform checks on company and business names during the registration process, but we advise you to do your own checks first to prevent your application being rejected for this reason later. Doing these checks will also help to make sure your business name does not infringe on a trademark of another business.
These are two national databases you can search for free:
- National names index - a list of all Australian corporate and registered business names published on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s website
- Trademarks database - a list of trademarks registered with IP Australia.
Is your name acceptable?
Your business name is considered acceptable if it:
- is not misleading
- is non-offensive to the general public (not just certain groups)
- is proper English (upside down or backward letters are not acceptable)
- does not include prohibited words or words with special meaning, such as Red Cross or Made in Australia.
What we check
When you apply to register a business name, we do a number of checks, including:
- an ‘identical names test’ against the corporation names on the National Names Index
- an ‘identical and similar names test’ against business names, incorporated associations and cooperatives registered in Queensland
- a check that your name isn’t misleading or offensive, or doesn’t use special words or terms reserved for particular organisations or individuals
- a check that you hold the registered domain name licence, if you wish to register a ‘.com.au’ or a ‘.net.au’ business name. You need to provide written evidence from a domain name registrar accredited by Domain Names Australia. This also applies to international ‘.com’ or ‘.net’ domain names.
What we don’t check
When you apply to register a business name we do not check:
- interstate business names
- similar company names
- registered trademarks (we do not have rights under the Business Names Act 1962 to check this, so you need to do a search)
- spelling mistakes.
Types of unacceptable names
Names easily confused with existing business names
If a proposed name is identical to (or, in the opinion of the registrar, is likely to be confused with or mistaken for) an existing business name, incorporated association or cooperative already registered in Queensland, it isn’t acceptable.
Names identical to existing corporation names
If a proposed business name has the same name as an existing corporation name (listed on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission register), it isn’t acceptable.
If there are only certain differences between the proposed name and existing corporation names, this is not enough to differentiate them and is not acceptable either.
These include when:
- 'the' or 'a' is the first word in one or both names
- Proprietary, Pty, Limited, Ltd, No Liability, NL, Incorporated or Inc is used in the corporation’s name
- a word is plural or singular in either of the proposed or existing names
- the font size and letter cases, number or other character sizes, accents, spaces between letters, numbers or characters, or punctuation marks are used in one or both names
- one name contains an abbreviated version of a word used in the other (e.g. ‘Queensland pineapples are us’ is considered identical to ‘Qld pineapples are us Pty Ltd’).
Misleading names
Names that mislead the public about what the business does are not acceptable.
For example if a business wants to register ‘Gladstone Car Sales’ but actually intends to sell perfume, this is misleading because potential customers would assume that the business sells cars.
Offensive names
Names that are likely to be considered offensive to members of the public are also unacceptable.
Name that contain words with special meaning
Any names that contain the following words or abbreviations of these words are not acceptable unless you apply for special permission:
- Aboriginal Corporation, Aboriginal Council, Torres Strait Islander Corporation
- Commonwealth, Federal
- Building Society, Cooperative, Credit Society, Credit Union, Friendly Society, Starr Bowkett, Savings, Futures Exchange, Stock Exchange
- Chamber Of Commerce, Chamber Of Industry, Chamber Of Manufacturers
- College Of Advanced Education, Institute of Advanced Education, University
- Trust, Trustee, Executor
- Guarantee, Made In Australia, Consumer, Chartered.
Names that suggest powerful connections
Names that suggest connections with powerful families or organisations, such as governments, are only acceptable if a genuine connection exists.
We do not accept names that imply connections with the following groups unless they actually exist:
- British royal family, or where royal backing or approval is suggested
- commonwealth, state or local government
- department, authority or instrumentality of the commonwealth, state or local government
- foreign governments
- the Returned Servicemen League (RSL) or any other military veterans’ organisation
- Sir Donald Bradman
- organisations with members who are totally or partially incapacitated.
Last reviewed 28/08/2009 |
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