Preliminary Name Searches versus Corporate Searches

When you incorporate a company in Canada you will be required to provide a Nuans name search report or similar name search report for the province or territory you wish to register in.  Some provinces and/or territories will require you to provide a Nuans name search report or a similar name search report when you register a business name, sole proprietorship or partnership as well.  A Nuans name search report or similar name search report will list usually in five pages all of the names that are similar to the name you wish to register.

Some provinces and/or territories, such as Alberta and Ontario, do not require a name search when registering a business name, sole proprietorship or partnership and you are allowed to register any name even if someone else has come along and registered the name first.  However, if you are incorporating you will always be required to provide some form of name search report no matter what Canadian jurisdiction you are registering in.

You must be careful to be very descriptive with your name otherwise if there is a limit on the number of pre-searches that will be done, you may have to pay more for further searches.

The preliminary name search simply helps to ensure that the name you picked has not been taken by another person, partnership or company prior to your ordering a full name search to be used upon registration.

You do not want to have the search house just order the name search and find out after you have paid money that you cannot use the report because there are conflicting names showing up on it.

There is no guarantee that a name search is going to be accepted by a government, even if a search house does the search, because the different jurisdictions in Canada have different rules.  Some jurisdictions such as the eastern provinces, the Yukon and the federal government will even reject a proposed name based on another name already registered that sounds like the name you wish.  You therefore need to have an experienced search house do a preliminary name search for you to cut down the odds of your name being rejected.  If you have chosen a service that provides for unlimited preliminary name searches with the purchase of a name search report then you will save money in the long run.

In cases where you are not required to provide a name search for a business name, sole proprietorship or partnership, you still need to clear the name.  It would be foolish to go ahead and register a name that is the same or similar to another name since this would end up being competition for you.  Further if that business finds out that you have registered the name and they are highly placed in the marketplace they could take you to court to force you to change your name.  The onus is on you to ensure your name is clear.  Do not think that you can just go into the phone book or search over the internet to see if anyone is using the name.  That will not provide you with an accurate listing.  Your name should be checked by a professional since they know how to search the Nuans name database in Canada and will obtain more accurate results.

You can check the name by ordering a name search, however, some search houses will offer for a nominal price a preliminary name search and will clear your name in advance of registration.  This services is great for when you are registering in a province or territory, such as Alberta and Ontario, where a full name search is not required.

Preliminary searches have their limitations. The search provides "exact match" results only. This is why an official NUANS report is required in order to register a corporation. Unique names or names that sound the same and are spelled differently only show up on the full name search. However, the preliminary name search weeds out most of the conflicts in advance and gives you a better chance of not wasting your money by having to re-order the search.