Canada Business Corporations Regulations, 2001

30 (1) For the purpose of paragraph 12(1)(a) of the Act, a corporate name is prohibited if 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 family name, used alone, of an individual who is living or has died within 30 years before the day on which the Director receives any of the documents referred to in subsection 8(1), section 178 or subsection 185(4), 187(4), 191(5), 192(7) or 209(3) of the Act or a request to reserve a name under subsection 11(1) of the Act; or

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

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if a person proposing to use the corporate name establishes that it has been used in Canada or elsewhere by them or by their predecessors so as to have become distinctive in Canada on the day referred to in paragraph (1)(b).