Two LLC with same name [Updated]

Last updated : Aug 16, 2022

Can you have multiple LLCs under one name?

The answer is yes--it is possible and permissible to operate multiple businesses under one LLC. Many entrepreneurs who opt to do this use what is called a "Fictitious Name Statement" or a "DBA" (also known as a "Doing Business As") to operate an additional business under a different name.

Can 2 businesses have the same name in the same state?

You can often use the same business name in your own state or another state, if it is not in the state where the business name is filed, and it doesn't violate trademark rules. This is common practice for smaller local businesses. However, this depends on what you mean by “business name”.

Can 2 businesses have same name?

Can Two Companies Have the Same Name? Yes, however, certain requirements must be met in order for it to not constitutes trademark infringement and to determine which party is the rightful owner of the name. These requirements include: Are the businesses in the same industry or geographic location?

Can two LLCs own the same business?

If you have special concerns, interlocking the ownership structure of two LLCs can be the right choice. Benefits of an LLC owning another LLC include that you can more easily obscure your individual ownership of a subsidiary LLC, since the parent LLC is listed as the owner.

Is it better to have multiple LLC or DBA?

Having multiples DBAs will not protect the assets and income of each DBA from the other DBAs. If one of your DBAs gets sued, all other DBAs under the LLC name will be liable. For liability protection purposes, it is better to have multiple LLCs for each of your businesses.

Can two LLCs have the same DBA?

For most states, two businesses will not be allowed to use the same DBA. Doing so will cause confusion, especially when the fictitious names are in the same industry. In order to use a DBA for your business, you must submit an application. Just make sure that your fictitious name isn't already taken!

What happens if two businesses have the same name?

By choosing the same name as another business, you risk being forced to change your name or even pay monetary damages to the other company. Sharing a name with another company can also make it difficult to register trademarks for your own business.

Can two LLCs have the same address?

Same address can be used for multiple companies, although it's always a good idea to have a unique address for your business. But technically you can do it this way, sure.

Should I name my LLC after myself?

Sometimes it makes sense to name your LLC after yourself if you want to grow your personal brand, but in some cases using your personal name can limit your business' growth or even confuse customers.

Should I get an LLC or trademark first?

LLC comes first. If you plan to structure your business as an LLC , then you should form the LLC first because the LLC will be the trademark owner. So, the LLC MUST exist before the trademark is filed. Every trademark has an owner, and the owner is usually the person or business that is using it.

Can I use a business name that already exists?

A trademarked name is protected on a national basis. If a company name already exists as a trademark, you can't use it even if the company doesn't operate in your state. To see if a specific company name exists and is trademarked, search for the name using the USPTO website's electronic search system.

What are examples of LLC names?

• ABC Limited Liability Company.
• ABC Limited Liability Co.
• ABC Limited.
• ABC L.L.C.
• ABC LLC.
• ABC Ltd.

How many businesses can you put under an LLC?

You can run two or more businesses under one LLC by either: running all the business activities under one LLC name, or. registering DBAs (“doing business as”), also known as Fictitious Names.

How many LLCs can you have?

Making multiple LLCs, in fact, is perfectly legal; there is no limit to the number of LLCs one person can register. On the other hand, it's more paperwork than you might otherwise need to do. Taxes become individual taxes for each LLC, rather than one larger aggregate whole.

Why would an LLC own another LLC?

Why Would an LLC Own Another LLC? Business owners who have several lines of business often form a parent LLC and subsidiaries to minimize their risks. Because of the liability protection provided by LLCs, if one part of the business fails, it won't jeopardize the others.

How do I open multiple businesses under one LLC?

Another way to structure multiple businesses under one LLC is to set up a holding company. Under this option, you would create separate LLCs for each new business venture and “hold” them under your primary LLC. This arrangement is also referred to as an umbrella company or parent company.

How do I file taxes if I have two businesses?

If you have two businesses, you'll need to file multiple Schedule Cs — one for each business. But, you can include all the forms and calculations with your personal income tax return under your TIN, which distinguishes your sole proprietorship.

Can I use one business account for two businesses?

As the owner of an LLC or a corporation, you will have to pay bills that you normally would not have to deal with as a sole proprietor. As a result, the law requires you to open multiple business bank accounts for each separate business. You may try to use the same account - but it will be against the law.

Should you have multiple LLCs?

It's not actually unusual to have multiple LLCs, either as a sole owner or as one of a group of owners, or "members," as they are called in an LLC. Owning more than one LLC may make sense if: Separate businesses. If you have two separate businesses, two LLCs can minimize your risk if one business fails.

Do I need a DBA for my LLC?

No, you do not need a DBA for an LLC. This is because when you register an LLC, you'll also register your company name eliminating the need for a DBA. However, in some instances, you may use a DBA for your LLC to expand your business and operate part of it under a name other than your original business name.

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hello i'm attorney thomas burton i'm a business law estate planning and asset protection attorney here in wisconsin and today's question has to do with businesses and the name of your business so let's jump right into it the question is the following i registered my business slash created a corp s corp in state i'm doing business in no one had the same name similar but not same however as i was looking to see how my business showed up online i see another website with same name as mine it's the company that had a similar name registered in the same state but publicly they are my same exact name they are an llc i am an s corp can this occur without a problem it's very easy to confuse us as the same company we do similar activities we service the sti industry in multiple areas and have our own rentals the other company just has property rentals do i need to trademark my business name would it even make a difference do i need to change my name since they had one similar first thanks so you can see this is a complex question and as you're thinking about your business or naming your llc this is an important thing to keep in mind now he says str and mentions rentals i think he's referring to the short term rental industry which we commonly think of as rentals on airbnb vrbo and just renting through your own website a vacation home things like that and you can see where there's names that are popular in that industry that likely a lot of people want to use so it sounds like he registered in the same state now this question was asked in wisconsin so i'm assuming it's here in wisconsin and he says an s corp i uh just as a side note in general you don't form an s corp you file the s corp election with the irs to be taxed as an s corp so it's likely he formed either a c corporation or an llc which can both file the s corporation election and then this other entity he doesn't say he says they are an llc so the wisconsin department of financial institutions has the corporate name registry and they have requirements for forming a new llc or corporation and under those requirements the name cannot be substantially similar to a name already in use and they use some examples where in their naming guide you can't just have one small filler word be the difference like acme incorporated and the acme incorporated or green bay packers inc and the green bay packers inc which actually the green bay packers i believe used to be the green bay packers then they dropped the the and it's green bay packers inc also just the last designation whether you're an inc a c corporation or an llc so he's saying they have the same similar name it sounds like publicly had a similar name registered but publicly there my same exact name what may have happened with this first business is that they formed an llc and then they started marketing the llc leaving off a little bit of the name and that's what they're marketing let's say they're called wisconsin vacation rentals or something like that but the llc name is wisconsin vacation rentals of madison llc but their signs and everything just say wisconsin vacation rentals i'm just making this up but that does happen and in terms of trademark and intellectual property you gain the rights by use of the name so if this came down to whether or not he could trade mark his name you have to look at who used the name first in the course of business and in wisconsin there is a way you can register a trade name separately with the state of wisconsin but it doesn't give you federal trademark protections so if he wants to pursue that angle i think you should meet with a trademark lawyer who can do a full search for you and get into this analysis of who use the name first as far as the corporate names on file with the department they only look at are you actually filing a name already in use and if it isn't uh substantially similar if it is distinct is one of the words they use and it's not already in use you can file and get that name so someone could have been using wisconsin vacation rentals as their marketing for 10 years or even just as a sole proprietor but you filed the llc name but doesn't necessarily mean you have the sole use of that phrase in your marketing so that's why it's important for other business owners when you're thinking about starting a business there's two sides of this there's what corporate or llc name is available in the state of wisconsin but you should also look at realistically who are your competitors and do an online search a local search who is already using this name that i want because if you're the type of business that needs that wants to build a brand which it sounds like this guy does as well even if you can get that llc name that's just a little bit different than the other one if it's going to be confusing likelihood of confusion for people searching online and finding you with google and things like that it might not turn out the best for you and maybe you're better off going with another name that is totally distinct from this one that someone else has marketed for years and years so there's ways like when i'm forming an llc for people uh you know if that their first choice a name is available sometimes we can add a word uh instead of badger best painting we can make it badger best painting of madison llc or something like that or northwest badger painting llc to get the llc name but if you're competing with badger painting and they have all this rights and use of the name just because you can get the llc name doesn't mean you're going to be ultimately successful competing with google and online marketing and trying to get that website address and things like that so if your main objective here is to keep the name i would sit down with the trademark lawyer and look at your options and who used it first and things like that if you're just kind of confused over why two entities can have a similar name there is a way you can change your llc name so if you haven't been in business that long maybe you just want to change it completely to something entirely different so that you aren't confused with the other company and i was just listening to a podcast the other day the founder of zillow and he said why he came up with zillow was he really likes words that are invented so they aren't he was able to get the domain name and he just knew he wanted to build a brand around it and it did come from pillow and something else but if you're trying to build this brand you might want to look at a made-up name completely i mean that's up to you and your decision on the marketing end so also you could search the trade name database just to see if the other person did register that trade name like they have the llc like i mentioned wisconsin vacation rentals of madison llc but they're marketing it as wisconsin vacation rentals but registering as the trade name alone isn't the end of the analysis they could have just been using the name for years and years and have built up that intellectual property in the name from the use of the name so i know this gets a little bit confusing but but for others watching the point o

Thanks for your comment Jacob Beguhl, have a nice day.
- Bart Desroches, Staff Member

hi i'm tami shambata houston-based attorney and host of ask tammy live where we discuss the best ways to establish your business protect your name and keep your profits today's question of the day is does my llc have to be named the same thing as my trademark all right excellent question i want to jump right in the answer to that question is no not necessarily so if you go back and you look over different types of businesses that exist the names of the business don't necessarily correlate with the brand name that they put out there you can have a business for you know legal reasons that has one name and a trademark that's completely different so i'll give you an example and i think they have actually registered a trademark for this but just something for you to keep in mind on procter gamble procter gamble owns many of the household items that we use right and all of the items that they sell and put out there have their own trademarks but the llc's associated with procter and gamble are different if you look at some of your different products that you create purchase and things like that look at the bottles you'll see different llc names or corporation names and those entities own the assets associated with the business they own the trademarks they own the actual physical factories that create the things that you're interested in property that's associated all of that can be owned by an llc and that name can be completely different from the trademark why do some people do that well it can be a form of privacy right so let's say you're involved in doing work with other entities maybe you have manufacturers outside the country or things like that and you don't necessarily want to tie it directly to your business you may want to consider having an llc that has a different name from the trademark in order to make sure that people can't trace it easily in those instances it might not be just enough to have two different a different name from the trademark but it might be the first step so just something that you can consider that might be one of the things that someone might do in terms of not wanting it to be the same then you also have people who are just using llcs or corporations as holding companies and they're just using it to hold assets if that's the case you might not be so concerned with brand protection because you're not necessarily trying to distinguish yourself in commerce you're not trying to stand out and be distinct in terms of oh people my customers and clients i want them to know that this is from me you're just using it for a very specific purpose in those cases you might not necessarily have a trademark that is the same as the llc so there are various instances and if you have questions about that you really want to make sure you reach out to a legal counsel to kind of help you and guide you in terms of that decision making to say okay what is the best strategy for me um i just wanted to make sure that you're aware of that that's all i really have with regards to this question if there are any other questions or comments or feedback with regards to this video go ahead and let me know in the comments below additionally if you are trying to figure out what steps you need to take in terms of starting your business create a resource that i think will be really helpful for you it's called the start right action checklist and it is available the link will be below and this is a checklist that i use with the information that i use with my clients these are the step by step things that i say hey have we done this okay we need to do this we need to do this we need to do this to make sure that their businesses are built to be established and that they last so download the checklist check it out use it in terms of coming up with a game plan to strategically establish your business if all this is helpful and you want to find out more about the firm you can visit toslegal.com you can also follow me on social media on instagram twitter facebook and any of those other channels as well all right thank you so much i hope you have a great day take it easy bye you

Thanks airjordankingi your participation is very much appreciated
- Bart Desroches

About the author

Bart Desroches

I've studied user interface design at Bucknell University in Lewisburg and I am an expert in parallel computing. I usually feel giggly. My previous job was nuclear power reactor operator I held this position for 12 years, I love talking about geocaching and poetry. Huge fan of Steve Martin I practice snorkeling and collect records.