05 January 2007

Handbags….

Drawing on lunchtime chores to fulfil a contractual obligation to write a blog, IT Week’s Lem Bingley tells us The Business Names Act 1985 states that there are some words you can’t use in a business name without permission from the Secretary of State “to avoid the public being misled into believing that a company has a size or status that is not justified.”

One of these words is ‘register’ which gives Lem the opportunity to question whether The Register (“you know, the red-top web site with a vulture fetish”) has the relevant approval.

Lem starts the piece by saying he’s “unlucky enough to have been voted the Company Secretary of a small, non-profit firm.” Anyone care to guess the firm in question?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

>"Lem starts the piece by saying he’s “unlucky enough to have been voted the Company Secretary of a small, non-profit firm.” Anyone care to guess the firm in question?"<

Is it Lewis or Firefly...??

Anonymous said...

The Register is a brand. The company is called Situation Publishing. Let that be an end to an utterly worthless debate.

figgis said...

>Let that be an end to an utterly worthless debate<

Blimey - the lord of the flies has spoken, best get off down the pub. Mind you we need to be careful not to talk about anything worthless...

Anonymous said...

Actually it's not an utterly worthless debate because you're talking utter and worthless crap.

If you'd bothered to go to the Companies House website you'd see that business names and company names are not the same thing, as common sense might have told you.

Companies House says:
"What is a 'business name'?

It is a name used by any person, partnership or company for carrying on business, unless it is the same as their own name."

In other words a business name is a brand...

Anonymous said...

Oooh - handbags at 10 paces!

....the world's leading.... said...

"The Register is a brand"

I have to agree with the other anonymous that this is a rather - if not completely - flimsy argument.

For instance, if I were to develop a "brand" (not a company name, mind) which was "The Queen's favourite butter" or, God forbid, "The World's Leading Car" I suspect that I would get myself into fairly hot water with someone (probably the Queen herself, who likes Lurpak, or some bloke from Aston Martin).

I have always found myself confused by the The Register, and find myself shouting "here, miss" every time it is mentioned.

Anonymous said...

>"Lem starts the piece by saying he’s “unlucky enough to have been voted the Company Secretary of a small, non-profit firm.” Anyone care to guess the firm in question?"<

Is it: "The Society of Pedants' Pointless Jibes"

Anonymous said...

can somebody remind me what we are arguing about..??

Anonymous said...

Surely the small non-profit firm is VNU...?