FOI Request reveals how often businesses choose names that are just a little too similar to their competitors

According to UHY, almost 726,000 new businesses were created in the UK in 2020.

Choosing the right name for your company can be incredibly difficult and is imperative for every business to get right. The name has to speak to customers about the values of your company and what your company stands for while also being memorable.

With this in mind, Shout Bravo, the digital marketing agency, sent out a Freedom of Information request to reveal exactly how many complaints were made to Companies House about businesses registering under the same or too similar name, as well as the number of companies that were asked to changed their name because it was too similar to an existing business.a competitor.

The Freedom of Information request revealed:

• Companies House received 533 complaints regarding breaches of section 67 of the Companies Act 2006 in the last financial year.

• Section 67 provides the power to direct change of name in case of similarity to existing name.

• Furthermore, in the financial period of 2020-2021,122 companies were directed by the Secretary of State  to change their name after breaching section 67.

The response to the FOI outlined that Companies House does not register ‘business’ names. So to gain a clearer picture, the results are showing the companies that have been directed by the Secretary of State to change their company name under section 67 of the Companies Act 2006.

Overall, although having a name that is very similar to another business can be a genuine mistake, taking too much inspiration from other companies’ creative content is bound to cause some resentment.

Some businesses may even turn to the law for help. It is extremely important for companies to do their research on their competitors because failure to do this can have a financially crippling impact.