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Coke Cola ordered to change its name

17 December 2008

Coke Cola Limited has been ordered to change its name by the Company Names Tribunal (CNT).

In a first decision published by the CNT, Coke Cola Limited must change its name within one month, and pay the applicant’s £700 legal costs.

If the name is not changed, the Company Names Adjudicator will change the name to one of its choosing.

The decision demonstrates the impact that Section 69 of the Companies Act 2006 can have in assisting trade mark owners to protect their brands.

On 1 October 2008, the Coca-Cola Company made an application to the Company Names Adjudicator to request that Coke Cola Limited change its name.

The application was made on the grounds that Coke Cola Limited is sufficiently similar to the Coca-Cola Company name to be misleading, by suggesting a connection between the two companies.

This is the first decision made under the new provisions of the Companies Act 2006, which came into force on 1 October 2008. The new Section 69 provides that an applicant can apply to have a company name changed if the name is:

The decision will be welcome news to brand owners, as it is evidence that the legislation is effective and inexpensive to use.

The Company Names Adjudicator’s powers of choosing a new name for the company is a strong power, and likely to be a sufficient incentive for the company to choose a new name before the one month deadline.

Brand owners will no doubt also be delighted at the ability to recover some, if not all, of the costs incurred in making the application.

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