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    How to Name Your Business in the United States: Yes to Entrepreneurs ®, #2
    How to Name Your Business in the United States: Yes to Entrepreneurs ®, #2
    How to Name Your Business in the United States: Yes to Entrepreneurs ®, #2
    Ebook304 pages3 hoursYes to Entrepreneurs ®

    How to Name Your Business in the United States: Yes to Entrepreneurs ®, #2

    By Vincent Allard

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Do you want to find the best name for your business in the United States?

    If you are a U.S. or foreign entrepreneur, this practical guide is for you!

     

    This second guide in the YES TO ENTREPRENEURS® series will help you understand the essential characteristics of your business name. It will also provide you with the tools you need to choose and protect your company name in the United States and around the world.

     

    Together, we will explore several aspects related to a business name:

    ✅ The 7 important characteristics

    ✅ The 8 essential tools

    ✅ The 5 steps of the process

    ✅ The 5 levels of protection

    ✅ The 3 urban legends

    ✅ The 5 mistakes not to make

    ✅ The 20 types of names to avoid

    ✅ The 4 steps of a name change

     

    ? Exclusive Bonus: Useful Resources

    Throughout the process of writing this guide, the author accumulated many hyperlinks that greatly enrich its content. An up-to-date list of these hyperlinks can be found at the web address listed in the Useful Resources section, at the end of this guide.

     

    ?? Take action! Choose the best name for your business.

     

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    About the Author

     

    A lawyer by training, Vincent Allard is above all an entrepreneur. In 1999, although he was well established in Montreal, Canada, he decided to immigrate to the United States with his family and their dog Rusty. In 2001, he launched CorpoMax Inc., specializing in the creation of U.S. companies.

     

    For nearly 20 years, Vincent Allard has helped thousands of entrepreneurs from over 50 countries start their businesses in the United States. He is a regular speaker on the organization and launch of U.S. companies.

     

    Vincent Allard is the author of three practical guides for entrepreneurs, available in English and French:

    ✅ How to Start Your Business in the United States

    ✅ How to Name Your Business in the United States

    ✅ How to Open Your Bank Account in the United States

     

    The author is member of the Quebec Bar, Canadian Bar and American Bar associations.

     

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    * CONTENTS *

     

    1 - Introduction

    2 - Characteristics of the Business Name

    3 - Elements of the Business Name

    4 - Types of Business Names

    5 - How to Choose your Business Name

    6 - How to Protect your Business Name

    7 - How to Change your Business Name

    8 - Conclusion
     

    * Exclusive Bonus: Useful Resources

     

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCorpoMax Publishing
    Release dateAug 24, 2020
    ISBN9781952012105
    How to Name Your Business in the United States: Yes to Entrepreneurs ®, #2
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      Book preview

      How to Name Your Business in the United States - Vincent Allard

      1 - Introduction

      1.1 - Presentation

      Welcome to this practical guide on how to name your business in the United States.

      My name is Vincent Allard. I am a business lawyer, but first and foremost, an entrepreneur who moved to the United States in 1999. For nearly 20 years, through my website CorpoMax, I have helped thousands of entrepreneurs from more than 50 countries start their businesses in the United States.

      Objectives

      This practical guide is mainly intended for you, an entrepreneur who wants to find a name for his or her future company.

      However, this guide can just as well help you find a name for your business in any other country, as long as you pay attention to the local laws.

      This guide has two objectives.

      Objective no. 1 is to make sure you fully understand the essential features your business name must have, in simple and clear language.

      Objective no. 2 is to provide you with the necessary tools to choose and protect your business name.

      Important Decision

      Choosing a business name is one of the first and most important decisions you will make as a business owner. Choosing a name for your business is just as crucial as choosing good employees and suppliers. Over time, the name of your business will undoubtedly become one of its most important assets.

      Your business name will be important:

      To your customers, whose initial contact with your business will most likely be its name, whether they hear it or read it

      To your employees, who will be responsible for communicating this name to all the persons they deal with in their daily activities

      To your suppliers, who will want to be able to easily identify your business

      To your competitors, for whom you will want to become a benchmark of quality, so as to differentiate yourself from them

      To you, as the founder of a business you want to proudly lead to the very top.

      Points To Consider

      Here are five points to consider:

      First, all of the rules we are going to analyze are important.

      Second, any rule can have an exception.

      Third, these rules apply not only in the United States, but also in any other country, subject to local laws.

      Fourth, the remarks that follow can sometimes apply not only to the business name, but also to a trade name or trademark.

      Finally, there is no perfect guide for naming your business. It is a creative process based on an inexact science.

      Practical Guide

      Attention! This practical guide is not a legal, accounting, or tax guide. For this, you will need to consult professionals working in these areas.

      This guide is essentially practical and contains many examples:

      Examples of business names, trade names, trademarks, and domain names

      Examples of current names and names of the past

      Examples of names on the Fortune 500 ® list

      Examples in English and French

      In short, this practical guide has been prepared for easy reading and immediate understanding.

      I sincerely hope this guide will provide you with the information and inspiration you need to choose the best name for your business.

      If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions regarding this practical guide, including its Useful Resources section, feel free to contact me.

      Thank you and good reading!

      1.2 - Important Definitions

      From a legal point of view, there are different types of names. However, from a practical point of view, the line between them is often blurry. Here are some definitions to help you understand them better.

      Corporate Name

      A corporate name is the company’s official name, as it appears in its articles of incorporation:

      Amazon.com, Inc.

      Apple Inc.

      CorpoMax Inc.

      Google LLC

      Microsoft Corporation

      The corporate name is used only to identify the company from a legal point of view. Therefore, it does not play an advertising role as such.

      Trade Name / Business Name

      A trade name - also known as a business name - is the name under which the business is operated and known by the general public. It may or may not be identical to the company’s corporate name:

      Amazon

      Apple

      CorpoMax

      Google

      Microsoft

      Firm Name

      A firm name is the name of a partnership. It often consists of the names of the partners. Historically, the majority of professionals do business together in partnership:

      Accountants

      Architects

      Engineers

      Lawyers

      Etc.

      For example, when I was practicing law, my partner Richard Pigeon and I were doing business together as Pigeon, Allard, Attorneys at Law. However, professionals are increasingly being given the right to do business through a corporation.

      Assumed Name

      An assumed name is the trade name under which a company does business and which differs from its legal name. For example, the company ABC Inc. does business under the assumed name Gogopro. In the United States, assumed names are called by different names, depending on the state or popular language:

      Assumed Name

      Business Name

      DBA Name — DBA for Doing Business as…

      Fictitious Name

      Trade Name

      Trademark

      A trademark is a sign that distinguishes the products or services offered by a business. The following are the main types of trademarks:

      A word mark: the word NIKE

      A design mark: the Nike swoosh, without any words

      A word and design mark: the word NIKE with the swoosh

      A word mark can often be identical to the corporate name - without the legal identifier - or to the trade name of your company.

      Domain Name

      A domain name is a word or series of characters, followed by a specific extension, which identifies a specific computer within a network of interconnected computers. In everyday language, a domain name is a specific address on the Internet. The following are the main types of domain names:

      Generic: amazon.com

      Geographical: paypal.fr

      Sector-based or descriptive: mcdonald.restaurant

      Finally, here are three points you should remember.

      1. Rules

      The rules we are going to analyze generally apply to corporate names just as well as trade names — and sometimes even trademarks.

      2. Specialized Lawyer

      These rules do not replace the advice of a lawyer or legal counsel working in your jurisdiction, who specializes in corporate or intellectual property law. For any questions that apply to your particular situation, I strongly encourage you to consult such a specialist.

      3. Advertising

      It is rare for a company to use its corporate name in its advertising. Instead, it uses its trade name or trademark.

      2 - Characteristics of the Business Name

      2.1 - Length of the Name

      Your business name must be short.

      Advantages of a Short Name

      There are many advantages to a short name.

      For your customers, a short name is:

      Easy to hear

      Easy to remember

      Easy to read

      Easy to pronounce

      Easy to write

      Easy to share

      For your employees and yourself, a short name is:

      Easy to communicate to your customers and suppliers

      For your graphic designer, a short name is:

      Easy to incorporate into your logo, website, and printed materials

      Disadvantages of a Long Name

      There are also many disadvantages to a long name:

      Difficult memorization by your customers and suppliers

      Overly long domain name

      Overly long email addresses

      Name often distorted or shortened

      Name often transformed into abbreviation or acronym

      Today

      Modern companies adopt short names:

      Amazon

      Apple

      eBay

      Google

      PayPal

      Many traditional companies shorten their name:

      American Broadcasting Corporation > ABC

      American Family Life Insurance Company > Aflac

      America Online > AOL

      American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation > AT&T

      Applied Molecular Genetics > Amgen

      Banque Nationale de Paris > BNP

      British Petroleum > BP

      Consumer Value Stores > CVS

      Dairy Queen > DQ

      Federal Express > FedEx

      General Electric > GE

      Hewlett Packard > HP

      International Business Machines > IBM

      Kentucky Fried Chicken > KFC

      Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company > 3M

      Royal Bank of Canada > RBC

      The Wall Street Journal > WSJ

      Turner Broadcast System > TBS

      Union Bank of Switzerland > UBS

      United Parcel Service > UPS

      Weight Watchers > WW

      Finally, here are three points you should remember.

      1. Ideal World

      In an ideal world, your business name should consist of:

      Ten characters or less

      One or two syllables, three at most

      One word, or two at most

      2. Activities

      It is recommended not to include a description of your company's activities in its name:

      CorpoMax U.S. Business Incorporation Inc. vs. CorpoMax Inc.

      3. Fortune 500®

      From among the 20 largest U.S. businesses on the Fortune 500 ® list:

      45% have a name composed of only one word

      50% have a name composed of two words

      25% have a name composed of only two syllables

      15% have a name composed of three syllables.

      2.2 - Spelling of the Name

      Your business name must be easy to write.

      It is important that the name be written the way it sounds:

      Without the need to provide an explanation

      Without the need to spell it

      If not, your customers and suppliers will often make spelling errors when writing to you.

      To Avoid

      To prevent your business name from constantly being distorted, you should avoid:

      Adding letters

      Dig > Digg

      Fiver > Fiverr

      Deleting letters

      Flicker > Flickr

      Tumbler > Tumblr

      Replacing letters

      News > Newz

      Photo > Foto / Fotto

      Reserve > Rezerve

      Using a phonetic shortcut

      Easy > EZ / Ezi

      Energy > NRJ

      Experience > Xperience

      Explorer > Xplorer

      Express > Xpress

      Extra > Xtra

      Combining letters and

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