Canada Business Corporations Regulations, 2001

24 (1) For the purpose of paragraph 12(1)(a) of the Act and subject to subsection (2), a corporate name is prohibited if the corporate name is not distinctive because it

• (a) is only descriptive, in any language, of the business of the corporation, of the goods and services in which the corporation deals or intends to deal, or of the quality, function or other characteristic of those goods and services;

• (b) is primarily or only the name or surname, used alone, of an individual who is living or has died within 30 years before the date of the request to the Director for that name; or

• (c) is primarily or only a geographic name, used alone.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if a person requesting a corporate name establishes that it has, through use, acquired rights in the name and the name continues at the time of the request to have secondary meaning.