Sunglasses company name a bit on the nose
It’s pretty easy to set up a new company in this country – but that doesn’t mean you can call it whatever you like.
Just ask Christchurch woman Leigh Pickering, from Happy To Sit On Your Face.
The Companies Office decided the proposed name for a sunglasses company was offensive, and rejected her attempt to register it.
‘‘I was like, they don’t know what the business is about – how can they know it’s offensive?’’
She said her glasses had already been labelled and branding was in the market, so she was worried about what to do next.
‘‘They accepted Happy to Sit On Your Face Sunglasses. I thought, ‘It’s PC gone mad’.’’
She said the business name was intended to be a bit cheeky, but mostly related to the fact that well-fitting glasses would sit comfortably on the wearer’s face.
‘‘I’ve had a wee bit of backlash but I say you’re not my kind of customer if you can’t see the funny side.’’
A spokeswoman for the Companies Office said it would not allow names that were obscene, contrary to public policy, or likely to cause offence to any particular religious group or section of the community.
‘‘The registrar is not required to consider the nature of the business or how the company name will be used when reviewing name reservation applications,’’ she said.
Reserving a company name was not a prerequisite for a business to be able to trade under that name or use it as a brand.
‘‘Ms Pickering has shown this by establishing her business under the name Happy To Sit On Your Face – she has a website, Facebook page and Instagram account for her business under this name.’’
The Companies Office rejected more than 5000 company names in the 2017-18 year.