For many entrepreneurs, the starting point in setting up a new
business is to choose a name for the new business and to register a
company with that name. The first step of the registration process
of a company is to select, in order of preference, a list of names
for consideration and approval by the Commissioner of Companies who
oversees the registration of companies in South Africa.
Arising from the name reservation process, there often is a
misperception that the approval of a particular name as a
company's registered name means that the new company has the
exclusive right to use its chosen name and to prevent others from
using the same or confusingly similar names in the trade. It is
also often assumed that the fact that a name is approved for
registration as a company means that the use of that name is lawful
and will not infringe the rights of others.
