§303. Name of authorized foreign corporation
A. No certificate of authority shall hereafter be issued to a foreign corporation unless
its corporate name:
(1) Contains the word "Corporation", "Incorporated" or "Limited," or an abbreviation
of any of these words, or the word "Company" or the abbreviation "Co." if not immediately
preceded by "and" or "&", or unless the corporation shall, for use in this state, add at the end
of its name one of such words or abbreviations;
(2) Does not contain any word or phrase which indicates or implies that it is
organized for any purpose other than one or more of the purposes contained in its articles or
certificate of incorporation, or that it is authorized or empowered to conduct the business of
banking, insurance underwriting or operating a homestead or building and loan association,
or to engage in the practice of law; and
(3) Is not, subject to the exceptions provided in R.S. 12:1-401(C), the same as or
nondistinguishable upon the records of the secretary of state from the name of any business
or nonprofit corporation organized under the laws of this state or of any foreign corporation
authorized to transact business in this state, a trade name registered with the secretary of
state, or a name the exclusive right to which is, at the time, reserved in the manner provided
in Chapter 1 of this Title. In order to obviate this objection, a corporation may add some
distinguishing term to its name for use in this state. No corporation shall include the phrase
"doing business as" or the abbreviation "d/b/a" as part of the distinguishing term.
B. Whenever a foreign corporation which is authorized to transact business in this
state, shall on or after January 1, 1969, change its name to one under which a certificate of
authority would not be granted to it on application therefor, the certificate of authority of
such corporation shall be deemed suspended, and it shall not thereafter transact any business
in this state until it has changed its name to a name which is available to it under the laws of
this state or until it has added some distinguishing term upon the records of the secretary of
state to its name for use in this state.
C. Nothing in this Section shall abrogate or limit the law as to unfair competition or
unfair practice in the use of trade names, nor derogate from the principles of law or the
statutes of this state or of the United States with respect to the right to acquire and protect
trade names.
Acts 1968, No. 105, §1; Acts 1983, No. 88, §1; Acts 1989, No. 654, §1, eff. July 7,
1989; Acts 2001, No. 631, §1; Acts 2018, No. 560, §2, eff. May 28, 2018.