Business name and trademark: why registering a company does not protect the brand

A company whose business name is entered in the Commercial Register, or reserved, easily forms the impression that the name belongs to it. Business names and trademarks are, however, two separate legal institutions with their own registers, their own scope of protection and their own rules on who came first. A conflict between them does not surface when the company is registered and may only become apparent on the market, often at the point when the name already appears on the website, the packaging and the advertising.

Two institutions, two registers

A business name is the name under which an entrepreneur performs legal acts in the course of its business activity (Section 8 of the Commercial Code); it therefore identifies the entrepreneur. A trademark gives its proprietor the exclusive right to use it in connection with the goods or services for which it is registered (Section 8(1) of Act No. 506/2009 Coll. on trademarks); it identifies the product.

The registers are not cross-checked on registration. Before entering a name, the registry court compares the proposed name with registered and reserved names and with the designations of public authorities and registers (Sections 51(1) and (2) of Act No. 29/2026 Coll.); the trademark register is not on that list. The Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic, for its part, refuses an application of its own motion only on the grounds set out in Section 5, for example a lack of distinctive character (Section 28(4) of the Trademarks Act); earlier rights of others are dealt with only on the basis of opposition (Section 7).

A trademark may also reach a business name

The Trademarks Act expressly contemplates that a trademark may be infringed by a business name as well:

Use of a sign within the meaning of paragraph 2 shall be taken to include, in particular, […] use of the sign as a business name or as the name of a legal entity, or as part of a business name or part of the name of a legal entity […]

— Section 8(3) of Act No. 506/2009 Coll. (unofficial English translation)

The conditions of infringement are set out in Section 8(2): use without the proprietor’s consent, in the course of trade, in connection with goods or services, where the sign is identical with the trademark for identical goods or services, or identical or similar for identical or similar goods and services with a likelihood of confusion. For a trademark with a reputation in Slovakia it is sufficient that use without due cause would take unfair advantage of, or be detrimental to, its distinctive character or reputation, and that applies to dissimilar goods as well. The trademark proprietor may then seek an injunction and the removal of the consequences, and, where appropriate, damages and adequate satisfaction (Sections 8a(1) and (2)).

The order in which the rights arose also matters: rights in a trademark take effect without prejudice to rights acquired before the filing date of the application or before the trademark’s priority date (Section 8(2)). A business name to which a company acquired rights before someone applied for a similar trademark is therefore in a different position from a name registered only after another party’s application. The exception for use of one’s own name applies, under Section 14(1)(a), only to natural persons; a company cannot rely on it.

An earlier business name as a defence against another party’s application

Opposition to a trademark application may be filed by the user of an unregistered sign or of another sign used in the course of trade, where the right to it arose before the application was filed, the sign is of more than mere local significance and there is a likelihood of confusion (Section 7(f)). Such a sign may also be a business name that is genuinely in use. A name known only in the vicinity of a single place of business, however, will probably not satisfy the condition that the sign be of more than mere local significance.

Opposition must be filed within three months of publication of the application in the official journal (Section 30 of Act No. 506/2009 Coll.) and must be supported by evidence of use. The procedure is examined in our answer on how and by when to oppose a trademark. Anyone who misses the deadline may, after registration, seek a declaration that the trademark is invalid on the same grounds (Section 35(3)). If, however, they knowingly acquiesce in the use of the later trademark for five successive years, they lose that right in respect of the goods and services for which the trademark is used, unless the application was filed in bad faith (Section 35a(1)). How to act against a competitor’s similar name without a trademark of your own is examined in our answer on a competitor’s similar name where the company has no trademark.

Reserving a name does not resolve these conflicts

A reservation in the register of reserved business names prevents an identical name from being reserved while it lasts (Section 111(5) of Act No. 29/2026 Coll.), and an identical name is compared against it when another company is registered. It does not, however, create any right against a trademark proprietor and does not prevent anyone from applying for the same word as a trademark. Conversely, a registered trademark does not prevent an identical business name from being entered in the Commercial Register; the trademark proprietor must then defend itself by bringing an action. Protection under the Commercial Code is likewise asserted before the courts, where rights are affected by the unauthorised use of a business name (Section 12(1)).

How to align name and brand

• Search before reserving. In addition to the Commercial Register and the register of reserved names, check Slovak trademarks, EU trademarks and international trademarks with effect for Slovakia, for the goods and services you plan to offer.
• File the trademark application as early as possible. If the business name is also to be the product brand, the right of priority generally arises from the filing date of the application, or from the priority date under an international convention (Section 26(1)). The procedure is described in the article on registering a trademark.
• The domain follows its own rules. A domain is allocated by its administrator under that administrator’s rules, not by the Commercial Register or the Office; how to proceed where someone else has taken it is examined in our answer on someone has registered a domain bearing my name.

What the registry court examines in a name, and what it does not, is explained in detail in the article on the business name of a new s.r.o.. We will check whether the name is free in the registers and block it as part of a business name reservation; trademark searches, the application and any opposition are handled under our trademark service.