There are times when it may be necessary for you to register a business name with some branch of the government, whether it is state or federal. This often arises when a business name is considered to be fictitious.

It is well known that the name of your business can be one of the biggest assets for your success in the marketplace. You will want to protect that clever title that you spent hours coming up with for your new business. There are several measures that you can take to protect the name of your business. First, you will want to make sure that your company name has been registered. Second, if you plan on running your business under an assumed name, or a fictitious business name, you will need to follow the state laws that cover this area. Lastly, and very importantly, you will want to file for trademark protection of your business name.

LLCs, Corporations, Limited Partnerships and Fictitious Business Names

In most situations, if your business has been registered as a corporation, limited partnership, or a limited liability company (LLC), that registration will automatically register a business? name. By filing the articles of incorporation, statement of limited partnership, or articles of organization with the appropriate state office, you have ensured that the legal business name of your company cannot be taken by another company within your state.

However, there are certain situations where, even though you have registered a business name, you may need to seek additional protection. For instance, if you plan on doing business under a different company name other than the legally registered name, you must follow the requirements for filing a fictitious business name statement. For a sole proprietorship, the legal name of a business is the full name of the person who owns the company. For a partnership, the legal name of a company is what the partnership agreement states, or the last names of all the partners. Lastly, if your business has been incorporated as a LLC, then the legal name of the business is the one that is registered with the state.

This fictitious name statement, otherwise known as an assumed name certificate, should be filed with the appropriate office of the State Government. In most states, a limited liability company will file the statement with the Secretary of State or the Department of Corporations. However, some states require LLCs to file a dba (doing business as) certificated with city clerks.

The United States Government has a helpful website that is devoted to helping small business owners figure out the state and local laws in their respective areas. Business.gov maintains a list to help business owners in every state figure out what he or she needs to do to file a fictitious name statement or dba.

Some examples of when you would need to file a fictitious name statement:

• You have registered your limited liability corporation with the state government as ?Celebration, LLC,? but you want to do business under the name ?Celebration.? In this situation, you would need to file a fictitious name statement because you want to do business under a name that is not registered with the state government.
• You, James Woods, are the sole owner of a golf store. You want to name your store ?Golf-a-thon,? instead of its legal name, ?James Woods.? Because you want to do business under a name different than the legal company name, you will have to file a fictitious business name statement.
• You, Tom Grey, and your two partners, Frank Driver and Bill Cole, want to open the partnership business under the name ?Driver and Cole,? instead of the legal name ?Grey, Driver & Cole.? Because this name differs from the legal company name, you will have to file an assumed name certificate.

Reasons for Registering Your Fictitious Business Names

There are many reasons that states like to monitor fictitious business names. On the legal side of things, states keep track of every name a business operates under in case a consumer needs to find the legal owner of a business. As a result, a consumer that wishes or needs to file a legal complaint against a company operating under a fictitious name does not need to hire an investigator to undercover the identity of the true owner. Another reason is to prevent any confusion between businesses that have similar names.

In addition to these benefits, there are also practical incentives for the owner of a business to register its fictitious name. The main incentive is that, by registering the fictitious name, the owner of the business gains legal recognition of that assumed name. Consequently, the owner of the business can do things like opening a bank account under the assumed name and enforce contracts that were signed under the fictitious name. Lastly, by registering the fictitious name, a business owner can make sure that the name will not be taken by any other company.