See an attorney. Since you probably want to talk to an attorney about the correct business entities and other start-up matters, you may also ask your attorney about checking on business names. Generally you want to do your own check first to catch any obvious conflicts. You really protect your business name only by using it. Corporations are registered by states, and factitious business names are registered in countries. Registering a name doesn't really protect it though, because the same name could legally exist in many other states, many other counties. You could be Acme Corporation in Illinois and legally own that corporation in that state, but there could be another Acme Corporation in every other state, and every one of them is legal until you win a lawsuit proving that they are trading on the commercial interests you own. When you really get protection is when you use that name, and therefore when you find somebody else using it you can prove that you had it first, so they are trading on your name. There are lots of McDonald's restaurants around, and McDonald's can't stop them from using that name if they had it early enough, and especially if they aren't pretending to be a fast food hamburger joint. The attempt to confuse is very important. Read more: articles.bplans.com/starting-a-business/choosing-your-business-name/57#ixzz0qLo7iPGH ---This post was edited to remove a commercial link. Read our discussion policies for more Community best practices.

Hi born2fly, You can check if your business name is already filed with New York State by searching the Corporation & Business Entity Database. http://www.dos.state.ny.us/corps/bus_entity_search.html If the name is not registered, then you can also register your business name as a trademark with your state and/or the federal government to protect it. Learn more about steps to take to protect your business name here.

Yes contact the NY Secretary of State - But is the other company a direct competitor or in a business that would be of issue to your name?...

A quick call to your state or county office that registers business names should provide an answer to your question. In my state, corporations and LLCs must have unique names but sole proprietorships can have names similar to other businesses. If the person has not registered the name and you register it, then if they attempt to register it at a later date, they may not be able to. I am not sure if you can request that they must stop using the name, though you could try, particularly since they haven't registered the name. If the other business has been around for a number of years your business could be confused with theirs. That may not be in your best interests if they have financial issues, provide poor customer service or in some other way could compromise the integrity of your business. Is there perhaps a similar, but slightly different, name you can register?

I fear that you will not be able to use a business name that has already been registered by another company. Before finalizing your company name, you need to make sure that it has not been registered by going through registers business names of your state or county office.