Previously in California (CA), if you were looking to register a business in the state and the CA Secretary of State (SOS) determined that your company name was too similar to that of an existing Entity the existing laws allowed the applicant to obtain written consent to use a similar name from the existing Entity and register the name in CA, so long as the SOS did not find that the public were likely to be misled.
Bill (SB-522) passed by the state of California legislator, on August 30, 2020, has eliminated the above-described exception(s).
New Business Entities and qualifying Authorities will no longer have the ability to obtain consent from existing business entities to use the deceptively similar name.
In addition, Bill SB-522 includes further provisions requiring that general filings, amendments, and dissolutions, to be filed with the Secretary of State, must now contain the entity name and number as they appear on the Secretary of State’s records.
To read more on the specifics of the bill please visit: CA SB-522
Source: “California Legislation Passed.” (NPRRA), 2020.
