Company names identify a specific company or, exceptionally, a distinct part of a company. They are also referred to as company designations, trade names or, in the case of a part of a company, business logos or establishment names.^[1] Together with work titles, company names are summarised under the generic term 'business designation'.
The Firma of the German HGB as the name of a company is also a company name. However, in contrast to the law of designations, the company law of the HGB pursues much stronger regulatory objectives. Consequently, the company law provisions of the HGB play practically no role in the law of designations.
Rights to company designations arise - unlike trademark rights - mostly through simple commencement of use.^[2] They also continue to exist without any formal act until the company ceases its activities. Only in those exceptional cases in which the designation is not sufficiently distinctive, in particular, descriptive in the specific industry of the company, does case law require a certain degree of recognition of the designation for protection to arise. However, the registration of the company name in a register is never a requirement for protection to arise.
As pure rights from use, company names are thus difficult to search in practice and can be particularly dangerous for competing companies. On the other hand, smaller companies in particular, which shy away from the costs of a trade mark application, can often protect their rights against competitors with the help of their company name.