WHY CAC DISAPPROVES YOUR COMPANY NAME
Anita is a Sole Proprietor and wants to register a business name to carry on her business. She applies for name reservation for the name – Anigold Enterprises. She was surprised that the name was disapproved because of a similar name – Anigold Ventures which is already registered.
CAC reserves the right to refuse registration of certain names. The reason for this refusal is because some names are classed as “prohibited and restricted names” under the law.
CAC will not register any name that is identical with that of an already registered company or is so similar to a registered name as to be calculated to deceive the public. To find out whether a name is already registered, you can do so in CAC public search.
Where a proposed company name contains the words “Chamber of Commerce” such a name will not be approved UNLESS it is a company limited by guarantee.
Any name which is capable of misleading as to the nature or extent of its activities or is contrary to public policy will not be approved.
Also, where a proposed name will violate any existing trademark or business name registered in Nigeria, CAC will not approve the name unless the consent of the owner of the trade mark or business name has been obtained.
The consent of CAC is required to register a company by a name which includes any of the following words: “Federal”, “National”, “Regional”, “State”, “Government”, “Municipal”, “Chartered”, “Co-operative” “Group” or “Holding”.
So you need to take note of the above while choosing your Business or Company Name.
Ifeoma Ben (The Legal Queen) is an attorney and writes from Lagos.
