Can someone take over my business name, with common words?
<p>I have paid ownership to my business name, ABN, and website registration. However my business has a common words.</p>

<p>Company 1 such as...</p>

<p>Southern Australia Kite Company</p>

<p>Together, those words make up a business name (ficticious by the way), but someone could theoritically start another business that is called ..</p>

<p>Company 2 ...</p>

<p>Kite Co. Southern Australia</p>

<p>Obviously both names are very similar, but are two different companies.</p>

<p>How can I protect my IP so that any combination of words of the first company are not used by anyone, anywhere?</p>

<p>Company 1 is registered in Australia.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>You need a <a href="https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au" rel="nofollow noreferrer">trade mark</a>, a company or business name nor a domain name gives you <em>any</em> proprietary rights over those names.</p>

<p>I looked up the UK rules, assuming Australian rules should be similar: </p>

<p>Once you registered your company name, nobody can register a company with the same name. "Same" doesn't mean identical. The government website gives the example that ‘Hands UK Ltd’ and ‘Hand’s Ltd’ are the same as ‘Hands Ltd’.</p>

<p>If someone registers a name that you feel is too similar to yours, then you can complain, and if the government agrees, then they have to change their name. In your case, "company" and "Co." count as the same, and just reordering the words may very well count as "too similar". </p>

<p>I can't find any evidence that plain reordering would be "the same" or "not the same". </p>

<p>And all this applies within your own country only. A US company or an Italian company could probably use the name Southern Australia Kite Company unchanged. </p>

copyright business ownership