Before you can incorporate a company in Canada, no matter what province or territory you live in, you will be required to provide some form of name search and as well, you might also be required to provide a name search to register a proprietorship, business name or a partnership.
A preliminary name check is done by someone who wants to register a sole proprietorship, corporation, partnership or business name prior to ordering a Nuans name search or similar report. Performing a preliminary name search prior to ordering a full name search helps to let you know if there is a chance the name is clear. It can save you money having this done.
The full name search is reviewed by the government to determine if there are any names which can be consider a conflict. It does this before it allows you to register your business. The federal government in particular will not accept a proposed name that sounds similar to a company name already registered.
As part of the service of a search house, it is normal practice for the search house to do a preliminary name search as part of the service of ordering the full Nuans name search. It is important that you know in advance of ordering your name search that the preliminary name search is part of the service. If you do not require a name search to register as would be the case in some territories or provinces for partnerships, business names or sole proprietorships then you would need to pay separately for a preliminary name search. I will explain this further below.
Just because you have a name search (Nuans report) is not a 100% guarantee the government is going to accept your name. If the Nuans search house does not perform preliminary name searches prior to ordering a full Nuans report you should look for another one. A Nuans name search report can be ordered without a preliminary name search but an experienced search house will do a preliminary name search first so you have less chance of your name being rejected by the province or territory in which you wish to register your business without charging you extra.
Look at it this way. A person wants to register a business called Morgan Cement Services Incorporated. The search company tells the person that there is no exact match because they do not have a policy of pre-checking names. There is actually a company registered called Morgan Cement Services Ltd. This person decides to register his business called Morgan Cement Services Incorporated and the owner of Morgan Cement Services Ltd. sees his flyers in the neighbourhood. Mr. Morgan of Morgan Cement Services Ltd. has had his business for many years and has built up a great reputation. Mr. Morgans reputation and longevity in the business gives him the ability to go court and request the court to get this person to change the name of his corporation. If you consider it, it would not be in your best interest either to have a name that is similar to another registered name.
The search house will provide the Nuans name search report or similar name search report to you by email and you should take some time to review the report to ensure for yourself that the name you wish to use is not too similar to another name already registered.
A Name search would be accepted for registering a company in Ontario even if the names are almost 100% identical. Referring back to the two names above, these names only differ because of the last word in the name. The Ontario Ministry of Government Services would accept this even though both names are very close. This would not be the case with the federal government since they are more careful with name acceptances.
In Ontario and Alberta and possibly in other Canadian jurisdictions, you can register a business name, sole proprietorship or partnership without providing a Nuans name search report. This means the government will not be reviewing the name prior to registration and therefore the onus is on you to ensure you have a name different from others. In fact in Alberta and Ontario you can register a business name exactly the same as another business name.
In this instance you would purchase a preliminary name search. To summarize when it is not a government requirement to provide a name search report (or Nuans) upon registering a sole proprietorship, partnership or business name a preliminary name search should be performed in advance of registering. You should also be aware that many search houses will provide you with a free preliminary name search if you purchase the registration of a sole proprietorship, business name or partnership with them in cases where a name search is not needed. If you are not clear on the websites policy, contact them and ask.
Resources for Canadian Business Owners provides information about legal and government services for Canadian businesses as well as further information about Good Company Names.
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