It is farily simple process and usually between 1 to 2 working days.  However, if all of the names are rejected by CIPC, this adds costs and delays the process as another 4 names will need to be subitted for approval.  

It shouldn’t take more than a day, unless your proposed company names are rejected – if that is the case the 4 new names need to be submitted to CIPC as well as the additional costs. 

If your names are rejected, then the overall process will be delayed as new names need to be submitted and extra costs paid to CIPC.

Yes, CIPC will not make any changes to your company if your annual returns are outstanding. 

Yes, your company name can have an objection lodged against it even if it was approved by CIPC. If another company feels aggrieved by the approve name, they can lodge a complaint with Tribunal.

A more likely scenario is an objection from a Trademark holder.  Whilst company registrations and trademarks are all managed by CIPC their databases are not linked.  This is likely due to the multi-level categorisation complexities of Trademarks. Therefore, Trademark infringements are manually policed usually by the attorneys of the Trademark holder. This is a cumbersome manual process which explains the delay in the objection for up to a year between an approved company name and a Trademark objection.

A Trademark will always take precedence over an approved company name in a dispute as it is a legally protected asset. 

The franchisor is required to provide the franchisee written permission to use the name. The name application must be accompanied with this letter of permission for the applicant to add the suburb to the name. For example Nando’s N1 City or Nando’s Cape Town. These applications are manual application and take longer to process. 

No, they do not expire. 

No, it remains the same

It is the responsibility of the directors to inform SARS as well as their bankers of the company name change. It is also recommended to re-issue the share certificates in the name of the new company. 

Be creative and unique, also add a descriptive word to your proposed named. For example Orion shoe manufacturing. The names are submitted in order of preference therefore each proposed name, out of the set of four proposed names should be gradually more creative and unique than the previous name. Unfortunately CIPC does not have a name search facility available to the public, therefore is may also be a good idea to check and see if the domain name is available to help you with ideas.