registering your name

[MissConfused]

hello

i'm wondering if anybody can offer me some advice in reguards to registering your business name.

i have looked on the companies house website and from what i can tell that service is only available if you are more than a sole trader which from what i have read you would be if you just worked for yourself/alone. is that correct? if not, can you please advise me why it isn't correct? if it is correct does that mean that you can't register your business name anywhere so that nobody can use it? if not, where would i be able to register a name that i want (it isn't a website name and isn't registered on the companies house website)? i'm not keen on phoning up places because to be honest as you can probally tell i don't really know what i am talking about and i'm worried i'll get on the phone and be all confused and struttery and they wont have a clue what i'm going on about and i'll end up getting nowhere. i did a search on here but the majority of the posts are from people who have had their name used by another salon or talking about companies house which as i said above i read as only available to companies and i can't find anything that answers my questions out right.

thank you for any advice.
x

 

[Ruth Mills]

I think you only need to register your business name if you want to trade as a limited company. Probably the best people to talk to are Business Link though, Business support, information and advice | Business Link

 

[MissConfused]

yes, that was what i 'got' from the site that only if you are acompany but surely there must be something else you can do if you don't want people using your name and you are just a sole trader?
thank you for the link i think i will get in touch with them and try and explain wha ti'm talking about haha

x

 

[makeupartistzoe]

I spoke to business link and my accountant about going limited (if I do get my own salon) and my accountant said it wasn't worth setting up as limited until I know that it's going to benefit me tax-wise. I mentioned this to Business Link and the guy briefly suggested trademarking my future salon name so maybe that would be another thing to research/consider?? I haven't looked into it any further myself tho.

 

[steviemac]

You can set up a limited company as one person, there is no longer a need for minimum of 2 people.
To be able to trademark your company name, it will need to satisfy certain criteria. This is from the IPO website:

What is a trade mark?

A trade mark is a sign which can distinguish your goods and services from those of your competitors. It can be for example words, logos or a combination of both.
You can use your trade mark as a marketing tool so that customers can recognise your products or services.

A trade mark must be:

• distinctive for the goods and services you provide. In other words it can be recognised as a sign that differentiates your goods or service as different from someone else's.

more info Intellectual Property Office - Trade marks are signs which distinguish your goods/ services from your competitors