An Ontario Nuans Name Search Report is a seven page report which is generated from the Nuans name search system in Canada. This database compares a proposed company name or trade-mark with a database of existing names that have been registered anywhere across Canada. You must obtain an Ontario Name Search for the proposed name you intend to use for your company at the time you incorporate in Ontario. This report allows the Ontario government to determine whether your name is available. Any conflicting names will show up on the report.
When registering an Ontario sole proprietorship, Ontario trade name (also called an Ontario business name) or an Ontario partnership you do not have to provide the government with an Ontario Name Search. The government does not provide protection for these types of businesses. You should still perform a preliminary name search to ensure the name is not taken to avoid any legal problems in using a name too similar to another name already registered.
It is advisable for you to have a preliminary name search done for the proposed name you wish for your Ontario company. If you do not do this and just go straight to ordering an Ontario Nuans Name search report then if there are conficts on the report you will have to pay again for another Ontario Nuans name search report.
If a search house is reputable it will not charge you for preliminary name searches when you purchase an Ontario name search. If you are not ordering an Ontario Nuans Name Search report because it is not required in cases where you are registering Ontario business names, Ontario proprietorships or Ontario partnerships, you should pay for a preliminary name search to be done to ensure the name has not been taken by anyone else. Some search companies will charge you for preliminary name searches when you order an Ontario Nuans so be careful about this because it can get expensive and the preliminary name search should be part of the service when ordering a full Ontario Nuans name search report.
Even though you are not required to obtain a Nuans Ontario when registering an Ontario trade name or Ontario business name, an Ontario sole proprietorship or an Ontario partnership, you should still have the name you wish to use checked. There could still be a conflict with the name and you could be requested to stop using the name if you pick a name that is well known by the public for many years. In order to safeguard against this you should do a preliminary name search on any name you are going to use as an Ontario business or trade name, Ontario sole proprietorship or Ontario partnership.
Below is detailed information about how you should pick your name prior to ordering an Ontario Nuans name search report. Ontario companies are required to have a legal element to the name (see below) whereas business names do not need this.
The three elements you need to include in the proposed name for your Ontario corporation are (a) the distinctive part of the name, (b) the descriptive part of the name, and (c) the legal part of the name.
If the name you choose to register is “Gandhi Carpentry Inc. , the distinctive element is the word “Gandhi”, which is distinctive because it is a name. Another example of a distinctive element in a name might be “Owen Sound” as in “Owen Sound Garden Supplies Ltd.” which is distinctive because it describes a location. “Nanton Dental Services Corp.” has the distinctive word “Nanton” in it to make it stand out from other dental service companies. The descriptive element describes the type of business. In “Crosgrey Transportation Services Inc.”, the descriptive element is “Transportation Services” which describes the nature of business. In “Grenville Garden Supplies Ltd.” the descriptive element is “Garden Supplies” which describes the type of products this business sells. “Dental Services” is the descriptive element for “Starcross Dental Services Corp.”.
The Legal Element of the corporation name is the word “Inc.” which is a mandatory ending which recognizes the name as the name of a limited company. In Ontario you can have any one of the following endings on your company name: “Inc.”, “Incorporated”, “Ltd.”, “Limited”, “Corp.”, “Corporation” and the French equivalents of “Ltee.” “Limitee”, “Inc.” (same in English and French) or “Incorporee”, The Legal Element implies to the public that your company is a limited company and not a business name, proprietorship, partnership or non-share corporation.
Resources for Canadian Business Owners performs unlimited preliminary name searches with the purchase of an Ontario Name Search and will pre-check your name for free when you purchase a Ontario Sole Proprietorship
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