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FatBastid
join:2012-12-27
Toronto, ON

FatBastid to Gone

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to Gone

Re: Blog - Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

I checked and they are not a # company operating under a business name, unless they registered in the last 2 weeks. The Ministry of Government Services is pretty bad about enforcing the Business Names Act, but it's not like it is completely toothless. First, you need to bring yourself into compliance and ask for leave of the court before you are allowed to maintain a proceeding in an Ontario court (they're not the ones doing the suing, but might as well share this with the public):

Ability to sue

7. (1) A person carrying on business in contravention of subsection 2 (1), (2) or (3) or subsection 4 (4) or (6) is not capable of maintaining a proceeding in a court in Ontario in connection with that business except with leave of the court. R.S.O. 1990, c. B.17, s. 7 (1).



From the Regulations, you can't use the words Limited, Inc. etc. in a business name registration (again, the majority of the public is ignorant of this):

Prohibited Usage

7. A name shown in a registration must not use a word or expression that would suggest that the registrant is a form of organization that the registrant is not. O. Reg. 122/91, s. 7.

As for penalties, they are small, but are not zilch, basically $2,000 for an individual and $25,000 for a corporation:

Offence

10. (1) Every person who, without reasonable cause, contravenes section 2 or 2.1 or subsection 4 (4) or (6) or submits a statement in an application for a registration under this Act that is false or misleading with respect to any material fact is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than $2,000 or, if the person is a corporation, to a fine of not more than $25,000. R.S.O. 1990, c. B.17, s. 10 (1); 1998, c. 18, Sched. E, s. 37.

Idem

(2) If a corporation is guilty of an offence under subsection (1), every director or officer of the corporation and every person acting as its representative in Ontario who authorized, permitted or acquiesced in such an offence is also guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than $2,000. R.S.O. 1990, c. B.17, s. 10 (2).

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

All of those are related to the actual registration. Operating under something different is an entirely different set of rules. There are all sorts of rules related to having legal names on cheques and contracts and all sorts of stuff like that which many businesses are rarely ever in compliance with. The enforcement, and even the penalties, are next to nothing in the grand scheme of things.

If you're going to try to go down this route, you will find the results outright uninspiring and not at all worth anyone's time.