Canada Cooperatives Regulations

21 (1) For the purpose of section 23 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 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 cooperative name is not prohibited 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.