Canada Cooperatives Regulations

21 (1) For the purpose of paragraph 23(a) of the Act, a cooperative name is prohibited if it

• (a) is only descriptive, in any language, of the business of the cooperative, of the goods and services in which the cooperative 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 the articles referred to in paragraph 10(a), subsection 285(4) or (5), section 292, subsection 299(4), 303(6), 305(1) or 308(3) of the Act or a request to reserve a name under section 22 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 cooperative 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).