California Code of Regulations
Title 2 - Administration
Division 7 - Secretary of State
Chapter 8.5 - Business Entity Names
Section 21005 - Name Reservations, Verbal Opinions and Court Judgments
Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024
(a) A business entity name that (1) is prohibited by federal or state law except with consent, approval or endorsement or (2) is subject to other state or federal laws may be reserved in writing with the Secretary of State; provided, however, that the Secretary of State will require appropriate evidence of the required consent, approval, endorsement or compliance prior to filing the document containing the reserved name.
(b) A name reservation or written or oral opinion given by an employee of the Secretary of State on the similarity of a name to an existing name or a name reservation issued by the Secretary of State is advisory only and is not a final determination that the name reservation is acceptable. A final determination on the availability of a business entity name is made only when the document submitted has been reviewed by the Secretary of State.
(c) Without limiting the discretion of the Secretary of State to determine that a proposed name is not distinguishable in the record, court judgments may be used for evaluating a proposed name being distinguishable in the records from existing names. A proposed name is acceptable if the customer submits a certified copy of the final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction establishing the customer's right to use the proposed name in California. All court judgments are subject to legal review and approval prior to filing by the Secretary of State.
1. New section filed 5-14-2009; operative 5-14-2009 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4 (Register 2009, No. 20).
2. Amendment of NOTE filed 11-19-2013; operative 1-1-2014 (Register 2013, No. 47).
3. Renumbering of former section 21005 to section 21003 and renumbering of former 21006 to section 21005, including amendment of section heading and section filed 1-21-2021; operative 1-21-2021 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2021, No. 4).
4. Amendment of subsection (b) filed 3-30-2022; operative 4-7-2022 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2022, No. 13).
Note: Authority cited: Sections 8, 110, 201, 2106, 2601, 5008, 5122, 7122, 9122, 12214, 12302, 13409, 15901.09 and 17701.09, Corporations Code. Reference: Sections 8, 110, 201, 2101, 2106, 2601, 5008, 5122, 6910, 7122, 8910, 9122, 12214, 12302, 13409, 15901.08, 15901.09, 15909.02, 17701.08, 17701.09 and 17708.02, Corporations Code.
