This feature is still under development. Some results may be incorrect.
What are the rules?
Certain words and phrases can be disregarded when determining whether names are identical or almost identical. The words and phrases are:
The definite article (“the”) when it is the first word in a name.
The following words appearing at the end of a name:
- ‘company’
- ‘and company’
- ‘Company Limited’
- ‘Limited’
- ‘Tapui (Limited)’
- ‘Unlimited’
The following abbreviations whenever they appear in a name:
- ‘&’ for ‘and’
- ‘no’ for ‘number’
- ‘co’ or ‘coy’ for ‘company’
- ‘N.Z.’ or ‘NZ’ for ‘New Zealand’
- ‘Bros’ for ‘Brothers’
The typeface and case (upper or lower) of letters, accents, spaces between letters and punctuation marks.
The Use of Plurals
‘Identical’ can therefore have the ordinary meaning of the same in every respect or it can mean a name in which the number and order of key words is the same as those in another name.
‘Almost identical’ is more difficult to define but the Registrar’s policy is that it means a name in which the key words and/or the order in which they appear make that name virtually indistinguishable from another. Each case will be considered in light of its own individual circumstances.
In general, a year marker (e.g. ‘(1995)’) is sufficient to distinguish one name from another. For the purposes of determining whether two names are almost identical, a year marker is no different from any other word that distinguishes the names. For example, ‘Clothing Company Limited’ and ‘Clothing Company (1995) Limited’ are not almost identical.
Why this search?
Quite often people ask if a company name is available. It is not a simle question as there are certain rules to follow. Coupled with the imperfect NZ Companies Office search system and we get so much uncertainty.
When performing standard searches you are normally given with zillions of results which are hard to navigate. It is also very easy to not notice the one you are looking for.
Here we have tried our best to deliver only relevant results.
How to read the results?
Red flags means the name is most likely not available as it is identical or almost identical to an already existing name. These are the name with the similarity percentile of 95% and more.
Yellow flag means the name is similar to an already existing company name. It is generally a good practice to avoid confusion in the marketplace.
Green flag means we have not been able to find a match and the name is likely to be available.
Found an error?
We would love to hear from you. Please email the details to info@bizoffice.co.nz