As I was setting up my new firm, the name and look of it, I thought of how far we have come from simply "hanging a shingle".  The law regulates every aspect of corporate identity these days, and conflicting claims to a business' identity happen more often than you would think.  I have dealt with many small businesses in the past who were the unlucky recipient of a dreaded "cease and desist" letter.  I loosely use the term Corporate Identity to describe the elements that make a business unique and distinguishable from other businesses.  This can include the unique corporate name, trade marks, trade names, slogans, tag lines and the corporation's web site.

Although this is not something that happens to the majority of businesses, infringement happens more often that you think.  A business can unknowingly infringe on another's corporate identity in more than one way.  I will highlight a few of these incidents below and to the right.

Sometimes a corporation has a name that is not very brand-able (like a numbered company), or the business wants to brand itself as something other than the corporate name.  It is good business practice to register any operating name as a trade name at the Corporate Registry.  The main function is to tell the world that the corporation is "doing business as", so that there is a recognition of the party they are dealing with.  Because the Registry is a public record, once a trade name is registered, there is a presumption that whoever deals with the corporation under its trade name will know the real entity it is dealing with. 

The law requires a corporation to clearly disclose on all its material the corporate name, so that people know they are dealing with a corporation.   A trade name serves mainly as public notice, does not have proprietary protection and as such can not necessarily be claimed for exclusivity.  If you want to do this, it is best to register a trade mark.  Like corporate names, trade names are regulated by provincial law.