Canada Business Corporations Regulations, 2001

30 (1) For the purpose of subsection 12(1) 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 the first name or family name used alone — of an individual; or

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

(2) Despite subsection (1), the corporate name is not prohibited 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.