Check a business name is free to use in Australia

Run three checks before you pay: search ASIC's register of business names, search IP Australia's register of trade marks, and confirm that auDA's rules will let you hold the domain. The first two tell you whether someone else can stand in the way of the name, and the third tells you whether the domain can be transferred to you at all.

Run them in that order. Each search takes a few minutes, and each answer changes what you do next.

Check 1: the business names register

If you trade under a name that isn't your own, you need to register it as a business name with ASIC. So the first question is whether someone already holds that name, or one ASIC would treat as the same.

Start with Dotto's free business name check. It searches a copy of ASIC's register for names that are the same as yours or close to it, and every answer gives the date of the copy. The copy comes from ASIC's Business Names Dataset, which ASIC publishes every week on data.gov.au. In the page's own words, it is "a guide from ASIC's public data, not ASIC's decision".

Then check with ASIC itself, on its business names register. ASIC's availability check gives a traffic light: green means the name is available, amber means ASIC needs to assess it after you apply, and red means it is unavailable. A made-up word can come back amber simply because ASIC's systems don't know it, and then it goes into a queue for a person to assess.

What ASIC counts as the same name

ASIC can't register a name that is identical or nearly identical to someone else's business name or company name. The same block applies to other names too, including one someone has applied for, one being transferred, one cancelled in the last 4 or 6 months, and one reserved for a company.

The test comes from the Business Names Registration (Availability of Names) Determination 2015. It has two sets of rules, and the headings matter.

Compared with business names and other names that aren't company names (Division 1, sections 5A, 5 and 6), ASIC sets aside:

• "the", "a" or "an", unless it is the whole name
• singular or plural
• capitals, spaces, punctuation and accents
• the order of the words
• "www" or a domain ending such as "com", "net" or "org"

It also treats as the same any words listed together in Schedule 1 (bakehouse, bakery and bakers are one example), and any two names that can be pronounced the same. ASIC's own examples include "Hare of the Dog" and "Hair of the Dog", and "Color In" and "Colour Inn".

Compared with company names (Division 2, section 7), a separate set of rules applies, taken from the Corporations Regulations. ASIC lists what it ignores here: "Pty", "Limited" and "Ltd", and pairs such as "Australian" and "Aust", "Company" and "Co", "And" and "&". Plurals, "the" and "a", capitals, spaces and punctuation are set aside here too. Word order, domain endings, sound-alikes and the Schedule 1 list are rules ASIC applies only to non-company names.

What a match does and doesn't stop

A match stops you registering that business name. It doesn't give the other holder ownership of the word. ASIC says a business name lets you trade under it and stops anyone registering an identical or nearly identical name, but "Only trademarks can give you exclusive rights to a business name."

The reverse is also true. A clear result gives you no exclusive right either, and ASIC warns that a registered business name does not protect you against legal action if you use someone else's trade mark.

auDA's transfer rule looks at whether you are eligible, not at who else holds a similar business name. But if you plan to qualify for a .com.au through a business name, a match that stops you registering it stops that route too. That is check 3.

Check 2: trade marks

Search IP Australia's Australian Trade Mark Search. It holds registered and pending trade marks. The quick search takes words, owner names and trade mark numbers, and you can upload an image to compare logos.

Search the exact word first, then the near misses: other spellings and anything that sounds the same (the search already finds plurals). IP Australia's advice is to look beyond exact matches.

Classes, and why they decide it

Every trade mark is registered for particular goods or services, sorted into 45 classes. Classes 1 to 34 are goods and 35 to 45 are services. An owner has exclusive rights to the mark only for the goods and services it lists.

So when you find a match, look at its classes and its list of goods and services. IP Australia says a mark is generally too similar to another if it's used for the same or similar goods or services and may cause confusion. A business name gives its holder no exclusive right to use the word. A registered trade mark in your class does, which is why it matters more than a business-name match.

If you find one

IP Australia's own guidance:

• If the similar mark covers different goods and services from yours, you may still be able to register your own.
• If it is similar or identical and in your industry, you risk being accused of infringement, an adverse examination report on your own application, and opposition from a third party.
• Its free TM Checker gives an AI-assisted read on whether a mark is likely to face problems, but it "can't guarantee an outcome".

Get advice before you buy if a mark in your class, or a neighbouring one, uses your word or something that sounds like it. IP Australia suggests a trade marks attorney or lawyer, who can also search for unregistered marks that a register search won't show.

If the register is clear, consider filing your own mark. A standard application costs $250 per class if you choose your goods and services from IP Australia's picklist. A pending application also counts towards .au eligibility, as check 3 explains.

Check 3: can you hold the domain?

Under auDA's rules you don't own a domain name. You hold a licence to use it, and buying one means the seller's licence is transferred to you. The rules are the .au Domain Administration Rules: Licensing, and the current version was approved on 22 June 2026.

Australian presence

Every .au licence needs an Australian presence (clause 2.4.1). The definition in clause 1.4 includes:

• an Australian citizen or permanent resident
• a company registered under the Corporations Act
• an entity with an Australian Business Number
• a partnership where at least one partner is an Australian citizen, a permanent resident or an Australian body corporate (such as an Australian company)
• the applicant or owner of an Australian trade mark, but only for a domain that exactly matches the words of the mark

A .au on its own

For a direct .au such as tallowby.au, clause 2.4.3 asks for an Australian presence. It has none of the name tests that apply to a .com.au.

A .com.au

A .com.au asks more. Under clause 2.4.4 you must be a commercial entity (which includes a company, and a person or entity with an ABN), and the domain must be one of these:

• a match or acronym of your company, business, statutory or personal name
• a match of your Australian trade mark
• a match or acronym of the name of a related company, a partnership you are a partner in, or a trust you are trustee of
• a match or synonym of a service you provide, goods you sell, or an event, activity or premises you run, at the time you apply

"Match" has a strict meaning. The domain must use some or all of the words in your legal name, business name or trade mark, in the same order, with no extra words. "Pty Ltd", "com.au", punctuation, "the", "a", "and", "of" and ampersands are left out. A business name counts only once it is recorded on ASIC's register. A trade mark counts while it is still pending.

So a .com.au that names a service, such as a plain description of what you do, can be held by a business that provides that service. A coined brand word describes no service, so you need a name or trade mark that matches it.

The rules don't stop at the transfer. You must keep an Australian presence and stay eligible for as long as you hold the licence (clauses 2.11.5 and 2.11.7), so a business name you rely on must be renewed, every 1 or 3 years.

A worked example: Tallowby

This example is invented. Every result below is a hypothetical, chosen to show what each answer would mean. I haven't searched the real registers for this word, and you shouldn't read anything here as a statement about them.

Two bookkeepers in Adelaide trade as a partnership with an ABN. Both are Australian citizens. They want to call the firm Tallowby, and tallowby.com.au is for sale.