How to check if a business name is available in Australia

ASIC's page on business name availability says you can check a proposed name on the business names register by selecting "check business name availability" in the search menu. The result comes back in one of three colours:

• **Green:** the name is available.
• **Amber:** ASIC needs to assess the name after you apply.
• **Red:** the name is unavailable.

ASIC says an amber or red result may be because the name is identical or nearly identical to another registered name.

ASIC's rules for acceptable business names list several reasons.

**Identical or nearly identical names.** A name can't be registered if it's identical or nearly identical to a registered business or company name. In comparing them, ASIC ignores whether a word is singular or plural, the words "the" and "a", capital letters, accents, spaces and punctuation. Compared with a company name, it also ignores "Australian" and "Aust", "Company", "Co" and "Coy", "Limited" and "Ltd", and "Proprietary" and "Pty". ASIC's example is "Australian Holiday Apartments" written with spaces and an exclamation mark at the end, which it treats as identical to "australiaholidayapartments" in lower case with no spaces.

**Recently cancelled names.** A name is unavailable if an identical or nearly identical one was cancelled in the last 4 or 6 months, depending on whether the holder or ASIC cancelled it.

**Undesirable names.** ASIC won't register a name that suggests an association that doesn't exist, such as with a government, royal patronage or a charity, or one likely to offend the public.

**Restricted words.** Some words, such as "bank", "trust", "charitable" and "RSL", are restricted because, ASIC says, their use could mislead consumers.

Not every business needs one. ASIC's page on registering a business name says a business name doesn't have to be registered by a sole trader using their own first name and surname, a partnership using all the partners' personal names, or a registered Australian company whose operating name is exactly the company's name. Everyone else running a business in Australia under another name registers it.

A company that trades under a different name needs both: its company name on the companies register and the business name on the business names register. Our guide on business name vs company name goes through how the two fit together, and the one on searching business and company names shows what each register lists.

It doesn't tell you the name is free to use. ASIC says registering a business or company name stops another business registering an identical or nearly identical name, but doesn't stop other people using similar words in their business name, and doesn't prevent legal action against you if you use someone else's trade mark.

The Australian Government's business.gov.au says registering a business name doesn't give you exclusive rights to it, and that a trade mark is the way to get them. Trade marks are on IP Australia's register, which ASIC's check doesn't look at. Our guide on how to do a trade mark search covers that register.

It also doesn't show names in use but never registered. ASIC says trading names aren't registered business names and don't appear on the register.

Our free business name search compares a name with every business and company name on ASIC's registers and every Australian trade mark on record at the same time. It lists names that are the same, one letter apart, the same words in another order, or share the start of yours, and trade marks close to it in the industries you choose. It shows what's on the registers, not whether a name is safe to use.

Say Saltwater Soap (an invented name) checks green on ASIC's register. A search of both registers might still turn up a company called Saltwater Soap Co Pty Ltd, or a trade mark SALTWATER SOAPS for soaps in class 3. ASIC's green result says only that ASIC can register the name.