Company Names Tribunal
The Company Names Tribunal was created on 1 October 2008 in the United Kingdom and is a direct result of the coming into force of Section 69 of the Companies Act 2006.[1] The Company Names Tribunal is administered by the UK Intellectual Property Office and only deals with complaints under Section 69 of the Companies Act 2006.Another example might be where someone knows that a merger is about to take place between two companies and so registers one or more variations of the name that the newly formed commercial entity is likely to require.The Companies Act 2006 lists the following defences to a complaint: a) that the name was registered before the start of the activities on which the applicant relies to show it has goodwill/reputation; or b) [repealed] c) that the name was registered in the ordinary course of a company formation business and the company name is available for sale to the applicant on the standard terms of that business (an 'off the shelf company'); or d) that the name was adopted in good faith; or e) that the interests of the applicant are not adversely affected to any significant extent.The first decision of the Company Names Tribunal was issued on 3 December 2008, when the Tribunal in an uncontested application forced the change of name of the company Coke Cola Limited following an application by The Coca-Cola Company.