Trade Name

A trade name, also known as a DBA (Doing Business As) or a fictitious name, is a name under which a business may operate irrespective of its actual legal name.  A sole proprietor, partnership, corporation or LLC may use a trade name.  A trade name is the name that the company does business under if it does not use the actual legal name or a name a sole proprietor or partnership may use since they don’t have an entity with a corporate name.

For example, if “Smith Designs, LLC” does business as “Smith’s Creative Websites,” then “Smith Designs, LLC” is the Legal Name of the entity and “Smith’s Creative Websites ” is the trade name.  Since a trade name is not a corporation or an LLC, the trade name cannot include the word “incorporated” “limited liability company” or an abbreviation thereof.  Trade names can be registered with the AZ Secretary of State’s office.  It is important to reserve your name so no one else can use it.  Once you obtain a trade name from the Secretary of State, no one in Arizona can use your trade name for the purpose of  their business name, trade name, LLC name or corporate name.  Once a trade name is granted by the AZ Secretary of State, it is valid for a term of 5 years, then it can be renewed.

If you would like our assistance to register your trade name, you can retain our Trade Name Services from the convenience of your computer.  Click here to learn more about our trade name services.