You had an idea for a name. You checked it at Companies House, it was free, you incorporated, and you started building.

That check told you something useful. It just did not tell you what most people think it told you.

If a name is free at Companies House, can I use it?

Not necessarily.

Companies House and the trademark register are two entirely separate systems, and they do not talk to each other. Companies House confirms that no other company is registered under that exact name. That is genuinely all it does.

It does not check the trademark register. It does not tell you whether somebody already holds a registered right over that name for what you are about to sell. So a company name can be available at Companies House and still be trademarked by someone else, sitting directly on top of an existing right.

That is why businesses sometimes find themselves five years in, trading profitably, and receiving a letter from a company they had never heard of. It is also worth understanding what protection a name on Companies House actually provides, because it is far less than most founders assume.

How do I check whether a name is really available?

Properly checking means looking in more than one place.

The trademark register is the important one, and to check if a business name is already trademarked you need to search for similar names as well as identical ones. A name does not have to be an exact match to cause a problem. It has to be close enough that the average customer might make a connection.

You also want to look at how the name is being used in the market, whether the domain and the social handles are realistically obtainable, and whether anyone is trading under something similar without having registered it, since unregistered rights can still cause difficulty.

That sounds like a lot. In practice it is a short piece of work, and it is far cheaper than the alternative.

What if the name is registered, but in a completely different industry?

Then you may well be fine.

Trademarks are registered for specific categories of goods and services. Two businesses can hold the same name in different categories without any conflict, and the register is full of examples.

The question is whether an ordinary customer, seeing both, might reasonably think they were connected. If the categories are genuinely distant, the answer is usually no. If they are adjacent, or if either business could plausibly grow into the other’s territory, it needs more thought.

This is also where the strength of the other mark matters. A very well known brand gets broader protection than an obscure one, because the public are more likely to make a connection.

What are the actual risks of using a name that is already taken?

The worst outcome is a forced rebrand, and it is worse than it sounds. It is not just a new logo. It is signage, packaging, print, the website, the domain, the social handles, the email addresses, and the customers who knew you under the old name and now cannot find you.

There can also be a demand for the profit you made trading under the name, and legal costs, though the practical damage is usually the rebrand.

The uncomfortable part is the timing. You almost never find out early. You find out when you have grown enough to be noticed.

What should I do before I commit?

1. Search the trademark register first. Do it before you print anything or buy the domain, and search for similar names, not just the identical one.
2. Check the categories you will actually sell in, and the ones you plan to move into.
3. Get a view on anything close. If something similar comes up, find out how close is too close before you decide. Some are genuinely fine.
4. Register the name once you are confident. Clearing a name and then leaving it unregistered means somebody else can file it while you are building, so UK trademark registration is the step that makes the clearance worth doing.

A free trademark search is a reasonable first look and costs nothing. If something comes back that you are not sure about, book a free 15-minute call or call us on 0161 833 5400 and we will tell you honestly whether it is a problem.

This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute trademark advice or guidance.

Written by

Matthew Griffiths

Matthew Griffiths is part of the team at The Trademark Helpline, helping UK businesses understand and protect their brands through trademark registration and brand protection. He writes about trademarks and the everyday brand and marketing pitfalls that catch business owners out.

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