We've discussed how to register business names, and perhaps you may be thinking: Why bother having your business name registered? Perhaps you're thinking that if somebody wants to use your business name, the protection of which is one of the purposes of business name registration, so be it. While business name registration is intended to protect the business owner, it's also intended to protect the public (some say that the purpose of the law is not to protect the goodwill of the business, but to protect the public).

 

This is the reason behind Act No. 3883, also known as the Business Names Law, as amended by Act No. 4147 and Republic Act No. 863. What's the significance of these laws?

The law provides that it's "unlawful for any person to use or sign, on any written or printed receipt including receipt for tax or business or any written or printed contract not verified by a notary public or on any written or printed evidence of any agreement or business transactions, any name used in connection with his business other than his true name, or keep conspicuously exhibited in plain view in or at the place where his business is conducted, if he is engaged in a business, any sign announcing a firm name or business name or style without first registering such other name, or such firm name, or business name or style in the Bureau of Commerce [now the Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer Protection, or BTRCP of the DTI], together with his true name and that of any other person having a joint or common interest with him in such contract, agreement, business transaction, or business."

Simply stated, it's generally unlawful to use a business name without registering it with the BTRCP. The rules issued by the DTI, however, provides that entities already registered with the SEC and using only such corporate or partnership name may no longer register under the Business Names Law.

Now, for some interesting tidbits:

* The Business Names Law is the origin and basis of Commonwealth Act No. 142, otherwise known as "An Act to Regulate the Use of Aliases".

* Former President Joseph Ejercito "Erap" Estrada was charged under C.A. 142, among other laws.

* C.A. No. 142 was enacted primarily to curb the common practice among the Chinese of adopting scores of different names and aliases which created tremendous confusion in the field of trade. Such a practice almost bordered on the crime of using fictitious names which for obvious reasons could not be successfully maintained against the Chinese who, rightly or wrongly, claimed they possessed a thousand and one names. C.A. 142 thus penalized the act of using an alias name, unless such alias was duly authorized by proper judicial proceedings and recorded in the civil register. (Ursua vs. Court of Appeals)