Loading...
Loading...
Registering a company name at Companies House does not give you any intellectual property rights. It does not stop someone else from trademarking your name, using it as a brand, or building a competing business around it. This is the single most common misconception among UK small business owners.
Key takeaway: a Companies House registration gives you the right to use a specific name as your company's legal name. A trademark gives you the exclusive right to use a sign (word, logo, or combination) in connection with specific goods or services across the entire UK. These are two completely different things, administered by two completely separate government bodies.
When you incorporate a limited company, Companies House checks whether the exact name you want is already taken on the register of companies. If it is not, you can register it. That is the beginning and end of what Companies House does regarding your name.
Specifically, Companies House registration gives you:
Companies House registration does not give you:
A registered trademark, obtained through the UK IPO application process, gives you substantially more:
| Feature | Companies House registration | UK trademark registration |
|---|---|---|
| Administering body | Companies House | UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) |
| Cost | £12 (online incorporation) | £205 (one class, online) |
| What it protects | Your company's legal name on the register | A sign (word, logo, etc.) for specific goods/services |
| Intellectual property rights | None | Exclusive rights under the Trade Marks Act 1994 |
| Stops others using similar names? | Only identical company names at Companies House | Identical and confusingly similar marks for overlapping goods/services |
| Right to use ®? | No | Yes |
| Duration | As long as the company exists | 10 years, renewable indefinitely |
| Enforcement | Company Names Adjudicator (limited, name-only disputes) | IPO opposition/invalidation, court action for infringement |
The gap between company name registration and trademark protection creates real problems for businesses that assume they are protected. Here are scenarios that play out regularly:
You register “Bright Spark Ltd” at Companies House in 2020 and trade successfully for several years. In 2025, another business applies to register BRIGHT SPARK as a trademark at the UK IPO for the same type of services you offer. If you have not filed your own trademark application, and you miss the 2-month opposition window, they could end up with a registered mark that gives them the right to stop you from using the name as a brand.
You are “Greenfield Consulting Ltd”. A sole trader starts operating as “Greenfield Consultancy” in the same city. Companies House does not prevent this because the sole trader is not registering a company. Without a trademark, your only remedy is passing off, which is expensive and uncertain.
HMRC's border seizure powers depend on there being a registered intellectual property right. If you find counterfeit products using your brand name being imported, you need a registered trademark to record with HMRC and trigger seizure. A Companies House registration achieves nothing.
A .co.uk or .com domain name is not a trademark either. Domain name registration is administered by domain registrars (Nominet for .co.uk), and gives you the right to use that address on the internet. That is all. Owning example.co.uk does not stop someone from registering EXAMPLE as a trademark.
Conversely, owning a trademark does not automatically entitle you to a matching domain name. However, if someone registers a domain name that matches your trademark and uses it in a way that infringes your rights, you have remedies through the Nominet Dispute Resolution Service (for .co.uk) or UDRP (for .com and other gTLDs).
Sole traders and partnerships do not register with Companies House at all (unless they form a limited company). They may trade under any name, subject to limited restrictions in the Business Names Act provisions of the Companies Act 2006 (Part 41).
A business name used by a sole trader or partnership has no registration, no register entry, and no formal protection of any kind. The only possible protection comes from common law passing off, which requires proof of goodwill, misrepresentation, and damage.
If you are a sole trader or partnership trading under a name that is important to your business, a trademark registration is especially critical because you have no other form of name protection whatsoever.
Passing off is the common law cause of action that protects unregistered trade marks and goodwill. To succeed in a passing off claim, you must prove three elements (the “classical trinity” from Reckitt & Colman v Borden [1990]):
Passing off is a viable cause of action, but it has significant drawbacks compared to trademark infringement:
Do not rely on passing off alone. A trademark registration costs £205. A passing off action in the High Court costs £50,000–£200,000+. The choice is straightforward.
If you are starting a business, or if you already have a business and have never registered your brand as a trademark, here is what to do:
The Company Names Adjudicator (CNA), established under the Companies Act 2006, can order a company to change its name if it was registered with the purpose of extracting money from the complainant (“opportunistic registration”) or if it is so similar to your name that it suggests a connection.
The CNA is a useful tool in narrow circumstances, but it has limitations:
The CNA is no substitute for a trademark registration.
No. Companies House registration gives you the right to use that exact name as your corporate name on the register of companies. It does not give you any intellectual property rights, does not appear on the trademarks register, and does not prevent another business from using a similar name as a trading name or registering it as a trademark.
Yes. If you have registered a company name at Companies House but not registered it as a trademark, another person or business can apply to register an identical or similar mark with the UK IPO. If their application succeeds, they could potentially prevent you from using your own company name as a brand in connection with the goods or services covered by their registration.
A company name is the legal name of a limited company registered at Companies House. A trading name (or business name) is the name a sole trader, partnership, or company uses to trade if different from the legal name. A trademark is a registered sign (word, logo, etc.) that gives exclusive rights to use that sign in connection with specific goods or services across the UK. Only a trademark provides enforceable intellectual property protection.
Passing off can protect unregistered rights, but it is expensive and uncertain. You must prove three things: goodwill in your name or brand, a misrepresentation by the other party, and damage or likely damage to your business. This typically requires evidence of years of trading, significant revenue, and customer recognition. A trademark registration costs £205 and gives you clear, enforceable rights from day one.
A UK trademark application costs £205 for one class of goods or services when filed online; postal applications cost more (see UK IPO fees). Each additional class costs £60. The registration lasts 10 years and can be renewed indefinitely. For most small businesses, filing in one or two classes is sufficient.