Sunglasses win face off
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 sunglass company name was turned down by the Companies Office when she tried to register it, because it was deemed offensive.
‘‘I was like they don’t even 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.
‘‘But then a friend’s son said ‘why don’t you go back with sunglasses’ and 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 wellfitting glasses would sit comfortably on the wearer’s face.
She said the public response to the brand was usually positive, although there had been some raised eyebrows when she set up a stall at a festival in Geraldine.
‘‘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 offensive due to being 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 people could ask for their applications to be reconsidered.
‘‘With the addition of the word ‘‘sunglasses’’ in this name, it was considered to not be offensive and
Rejected names
Among those turned down were:
❚ NZ Crown Institute of Monascus Research Ltd
❚ Ministry of It Ltd
❚ Royal Insurance Ltd
❚ Royal Kids ELC Ltd
❚ WINZ Ltd
❚ Creative NZ Designs Ltd
❚ Royal Nail Ltd
❚ Royal Nutrition Ltd
❚ The Good Wood NZ Ltd
❚ Tourism New Zealand Ltd
❚ Royal Federation Police New Zealand Tapui Ltd
❚ Halal Quality Assurance Authority New Zealand Ltd
was reserved.’’
But the spokeswoman said Pickering had not gone ahead with creating a company under that name and the reservation had expired.
‘‘We would note that the reservation of a company name is 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 2017/2018 year.