Legal Question in Business Law in New York

Business Name / Corp Name

I started a non-incorporated organization, we came up with the name and have used it since. I recently filed with the New York State Department of State a reservation of name and it was granted to me to form a non profit organization. There is now another group using a similar name that is demanding we stop using our name as the founder of that group filed a DBA with his county clerk as a sole proprietor That organization is in another county. Who has the legal right to the name? We will be a non-profit and the state issued us a name reservation after he filed his DBA sole proprietorship. Please help!


Asked on 8/11/08, 7:12 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Nancy Delain Delain Law Office, PLLC

Re: Business Name / Corp Name

Good question!

A DBA is formed within a county and that business's owner has the right to the name within that county unless there is a prior use at the state level on either the corporate/LLC roster or the state-based trademark roster. Since you're Johnny-Come-Lately (i.e., the junior user of the name), your state-based name would thus have a one-county "hole" in its state rights.

I'd pick another name for the nonprofit if I were you. You might be able to argue successfully that you have the rights to the name in every county but the one where the DBA is registered, but it would cost you far more in legal fees and angst than it's worth.

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Answered on 8/12/08, 2:26 am


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