Texas Revises Requirements for Registering Names of Business Entities

Texas recently amended certain requirements for registering the names of domestic and foreign filing entities transacting business in Texas, moving to the “distinguishable in the records” standard.  This revision changes the way Texas determines whether a business entity’s name will be available to domestic and registered foreign business entities.

Specifically, Section 5.053 of the Texas Business Organizations Code, previously titled “Identical and Deceptively Similar Names Prohibited,” has now been renamed as “Distinguishable Names Required,” and provides that the name of a filing entity registering to transact business in Texas must be distinguishable in the records of the Texas Secretary of State from other existing registered names.

In addition, other related sections in the Texas Business Organizations Code have also been revised to conform to Section 5.053.  For example, a new Section 5.002 was added to provide that a filing entity seeking to register an “indistinguishable name” may deliver a court-ordered final judgment as evidence of the entity’s right to the “indistinguishable name,” and Section 9.105 was renamed as “Use of Distinguishable Name Required” to provide that foreign filing entities must use a distinguishable name when transacting business in Texas.

The amendments became effective on June 1, 2018, and the full text of the revisions is available here.