DTI, SEC act to prevent business name duplication

Corporations need not go to the Department of Trade and Industry anymore to register their name in order to preclude their use by single proprietorships.

This after the DTI and the Securities and Exchange Commission finalized the guidelines and conditions for access and/or linkage to their respective database of reserved and registered business names.

The move is intended to curb the registration at the DTI of business names that are similar to SEC-registered corporate/partnership names and vice-versa.

Once the link is implemented, the company already registered or reserved with the SEC will no longer be available for reservation and/or registration as business name with the DTI and vice-versa.

"Thus, we reduce the probability of having two entities using the same name and thereby avoid the confusion and tedious and legal proceedings to determine the rightful owner of the name," SECchairman Lilia R. Bautista said.

The link-up, according to Bautista, is significant because it is the first step that will lead to the achievement of a first in government service. It also paves the way for the sharing of government IT resources, thereby allowing the country to reap the benefits of using technology in improving and reducing cost of doing business.

Bautista said there were previous attempts to link computer systems of certain government agencies in the mid-90’s but the effort did not prosper because of the prohibitive cost of maintaining the connection using dedicated communication lines.

"This time, I believe that in implementing the link using the Internet, neither the DTI nor the SEC will face the constraint of prohibitive cost of maintaining dedicated telephone lines," Bautista said.

I the event the systems fail to preclude the use of the same name, the first party who reserved the name, as shown in the systems log, shall have the right touse the name.

The DTI shall be responsible for establishing and maintaining the leased line connection between the systems. – Zinnia dela Peña