Renaming a ltd company or setting up a new one

X-Y-Z

Hello,
I have a small ltd company that I use for contracting. However at the moment I am also working on a website that is going to sell a particular service, and it's completely unrelated to contracting. That website will have a completely different name than the ltd. company, let's say its name will be GreatProductA.

There's a couple of problems that have arisen because of that:
1. due to the Irish restrictions, if I want to register the greatproducta.ie domain I need either to have a trade mark with that name, my company needs to bear that name or I need to register a business name that my company would use for official trading
2. It might be confusing for some people if there is a completely different company standing behind the website

So I have decided to go for one of these options:
1. set up a new company called GreatProductA and use it only for the website, keep my existing ltd company and use it for contracting only. However in this case there will be more overhead as I will need to do more accounting and will need to run the website business completely separately from the contracting business.

2. rename my current company and extend the memorandum to running the mentioned website. I don't know if the costs and hassle associated with this are high.

3. register a business name GreatProductA and use it for official trading. In this case I'm afraid that if I don't have a company called GreatProductA (and just register a trade mark or a business name), someone will set up a company with that name to piggyback on the success of the website.

Which option do you think makes most sense for me?

Thanks,
X-Y-Z

Pines

X-Y-Z wrote: »

1. set up a new company called GreatProductA...

2. rename my current company ...

3. register a business name GreatProductA ...

Which option do you think makes most sense for me?

4. Register GreatProductA as a trade mark. This gives you standing to get the domain name, and contrary to what you may believe:

X-Y-Z wrote: »

I'm afraid that if I don't have a company called GreatProductA (and just register a trade mark or a business name), someone will set up a company with that name to piggyback on the success of the website.

... registering the name as a trade mark is the single most effective way to stop someone else from using the name associated with the website.

Bob the Builder

you are allowed register a .ie domain name for a future product as long as you have a business plan outlined which suggests that you have put much time and energy into researching the product. for more information, contact www.iedr.ie.

ChinaImports

Hi,
I've been in exactly the same situation as you.

I just registered my business name with the CRO. Do it online (www.CRO.ie) and it'll only cost €20. Then your Ltd can trade as the Business Name or you can trade both in paralell. Once a name is registered it's yours and no one else can get the right to use it, without your permission.

From a Revenue point of view just use all of your existing VAT and PRSI numbers for both the Ltd and Trading Name. Let your bank know that you'll be using a Trading Name aswell and they'll accept cheque lodgements made out in both names. You could open a 2nd company current account with the Account Name as per the Trading Name to keep things seperate.

Good luck.

Chunks

Hi,

Quick question from someone who's slightly behind you guys with the company registration.

I'm setting up a LTD company with 2 directors.
I already have my articles of association and Memorandum signed by both named Directors and a witnessing signature from a solicitor.

Do I send these with the Form A1 along with €100 into the govt. to the address:

New companies section,
Companies regisrtation Office,
14 Parnell Square,
Dublin 1.

am I missing anything?

thanks in advance.

Bob the Builder

Chunks wrote: »

Hi,

Quick question from someone who's slightly behind you guys with the company registration.

I'm setting up a LTD company with 2 directors.
I already have my articles of association and Memorandum signed by both named Directors and a witnessing signature from a solicitor.

Do I send these with the Form A1 along with €100 into the govt. to the address:

New companies section,
Companies regisrtation Office,
14 Parnell Square,
Dublin 1.

am I missing anything?

thanks in advance.

that Look's right, but Have you checked the CRO website in relation to requirements for setting up a biz.

Pines

ChinaImports wrote: »

Hi,
I just registered my business name with the CRO ... Once a name is registered it's yours and no one else can get the right to use it, without your permission.

Not true.

If you register the business name "ABCD Bicycles" for example, then it's true that nobody else can register the same business name. But anybody can set up a website for (say) "ABCD Bikes" without you having any right to prevent this.

Your only way of stopping this is (a) the law of passing-off, for which you would have to prove to the court that you have already established a reputation in the "ABCD" name, and also prove that people were confused by the cometitor's use of that name; or (b) registering the trade mark "ABCD Bicycles", which the comeptitor would infringe by using a confusingly similar name.

Business name registrations do not give you the right to prevent others from using the same name, only from registering it.