Setting up a Company and name etc.

RicardoSmith

Can you set up a company with a different name as a sole trader?

Where can you do a search if you can use the name you are thinking of using etc?

neokenzo

AFAIK, you dont register a business for a sole trader. You can use a trading name but I dont think you need to register it. However, I am not 100% sure about this.

dahamsta

I'm not sure whether you strictly need an RBN (Registered Business Name) to use a trading name, but for the cost of them it's probably worth getting one anyway. I'm pretty sure you need an RBN to open a bank account in the trading name though. (The account name will be "YOUR NAME T/A TRADING NAME", or at least that's the way BOI fo it.)

You can search for business names on the CRO website. I'm open to correction on this, but it's my understanding is that RBNs aren't unique, i.e. if you register "RicardoSmith Donkey Trading", there's nothing stopping John Murphy coming along and registering it tomorrow. Corporation names /are/ unique.

adam

neokenzo

Originally posted by dahamsta
You can search for business names on the CRO website. I'm open to correction on this, but it's my understanding is that RBNs aren't unique, i.e. if you register "RicardoSmith Donkey Trading", there's nothing stopping John Murphy coming along and registering it tomorrow. Corporation names /are/ unique.

adam

Yes, RBN are not unique. So it doesnt matter what you choose as because anyone can have the same RBN. Only corporation names are unique.

Specky

You can't pass yourself off as someone else though with a business name.

So for instance (the example that everyone always uses) you can't set up as a sole trader selling burgers under the name "McDonalds Burger Shop" or anything along those lines.

Also if I remember rightly company names actually have priority over registered business names, so if you set yourself up with an RBN of "Fred's Shoes" then someone else could come along and set up "Fred's Shoes Ltd" and they can then go on to make a case to prevent you from using the name.

RBNs are cheap but they are also precarious. We have a registered company and an RBN which is different to the company name because we changed the type of business we were doing and so wanted to change the name without going through the rigmorole of changing the company name, bank account name, setting up new accounts with suppliers etc etc etc. Only cost €30 but I think we'll have to do the whole name change thing properly one of these days as it's getting too big to be safe from some other bugger nicking the name now by registering it as a company name.

...of course then there's the trade mark issue. You could get an RBN, design it into a logo then register the logo as a trade mark, then nobody could use it and your brand would be protected without you registering yourself as a company. This depends on the type of brand though, Coka Cola is Coka Cola regardless of whether you write it in squiggly letters or not.

eoin@host.ie

Originally posted by Specky


...of course then there's the trade mark issue. You could get an RBN, design it into a logo then register the logo as a trade mark, then nobody could use it and your brand would be protected without you registering yourself as a company. This depends on the type of brand though, Coka Cola is Coka Cola regardless of whether you write it in squiggly letters or not.

To complicate it further there are different variations of trade marks, including that of an image and that of words or combinations of words and then each has to be registered in differnet classes of goods or services. So if you trade marked an image which was a word or two in a stylise type that might not prevent someone coming along and trying to infringe your mark by using a completely different style. Therefore you should always try and register the image/logo and the words simultansously(if there are words in your logo).