An Alberta NUANS Search is required when incorporating an Alberta company. The Alberta NUANS search report is used by the Alberta government to confirm that your proposed name is available for use.
The Alberta NUANS Search will show all business names registered in Alberta which are similar to your proposed name and also all names registered in all of the other provinces and territories in Canada which may be a conflict to your proposed Alberta name.
The Alberta NUANS Search Report will also show similar named trademarks that have been registered. [margin_25t]
Preliminary Name Search Prior to Ordering Alberta NUANS Search
Prior to obtaining a NUANS Search for Alberta it is advantageous to perform a preliminary name search. If you were to pick a name and order the Alberta NUANS Search, without the preliminary name searches, you would not know in advance if that name is available.
Having in hand a NUANS Search for Alberta is no guarantee that your name will be accepted. If an exact name is showing on the Alberta NUANS search, being a name already used to register another company, your request for use of that name will be rejected.
The only way you will know if there is an exact name already registered for the proposed name is by having preliminary name searches done. If your Alberta NUANS search is rejected you will need to start over and obtain another Alberta NUANS search. Preliminary name searches help to prevent this happening.
Alberta is more lenient with name approval than other provinces. For instance, if you wish to register Joe Clothing Store Inc. and there is a company already registered as Joe Clothing Sales Store Inc., the Alberta government will allow you to register the name Joe Clothing Store Inc. and your Alberta NUANS search will be accepted by them. This does not mean you should use that name.
This would be a clear conflict and the owners of Joe Clothing Sales Store Inc. would not be too happy to see another company registered with such a similar name. Legal action could be taken and you may need to change your company’s name.
When you have a search house perform preliminary name searches prior to ordering your Alberta NUANS Search 90% of any conflicts will come to light and you can then choose another name for your Alberta company if the name is not available. You should be aware that the preliminary name searches do not pick up all conflicts and there is a slight chance there may be additional conflicts showing on the full NUANS search for Alberta but performing preliminary name searches does assist greatly.
