Why Do A Preliminary Name Search Before Ordering A Full Nuans Report

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.

Prior to registering your business, the appropriate government office handling name clearances will review the name search to make sure there are no names on the report which could be considered a problem. The government in the federal jurisdiction will refuse to register a name that sounds the same as a name that is on record.

If you place an order with a search house for a Nuans name search report or similar report a preliminary name search is normally done as part of that fee. Determine in advance before ordering your name search that the preliminary name search is part of the service. A full Nuans name search must not be provided without first having a preliminary name search performed. There is was exception to this rule. If you are registering a partnership, sole proprietorship or business name and the province or territory does not require a name search then in that case you should pay separately for a preliminary name search to be done before you register your business name. I will go into this further below.

There is no guarantee that a name is going to be accepted by a government just because you have a name search report for that proposed name. If a preliminary name search is not part of the service of the search house when you order a Nuans name search or similar search report then you should look for another search house. A Nuans search house has the ability to order a Nuans report without a pre-check of the name but a fully trained search house would never do so without a preliminary check of the name just to try and rule out any advance conflicts.

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.

Upon receipt of a Nuans report or similar name search report you must take some time to look over the report to ensure for yourself before in register a business that there are no names that are too similar to the one you proposed to use.

In Ontario you can register any company name as long as it is different in some way. Using the example above, both those names are the same except for one space and the ending of the name. The Ontario government would let that go through however the federal government would reject it for sure because the federal government scrutinizes names more closely.

To register a business name, partnership name or sole proprietorship name in the provinces of Alberta or Ontario, and maybe in some of the other provinces and territories as well, you will not need a name search (Nuans report) to register. The governments in Alberta and Ontario do not check names prior to registering business names. The person registering the name must ensure themselves that the name is not already taken since they could still be taken to court if they pick a name that conflicts with another. As well, the Ontario government and the Alberta government will allow you to register a business name which is exactly the same as another business name already registered.

In these cases it is a good idea to do a preliminary name search which you would need to pay for. Therefore in a case where you do not have to provide a name search report to register a business name, partnership or sole proprietorship, you should do a preliminary name search. Keep in mind that many search houses will do the preliminary name search for free if you chose their service to register your business name, however, if you have any concerns about that just write them and ask them what the policy is before you purchase.

Resources for Canadian Business Owners provides information about legal and government services for Canadian businesses as well as further information about a Canadian Name Search.