Do you have to register your business name?
Under the Partnership Act, proprietorship or partnership (firm) names are not protected, meaning there could be multiple companies with the same name. Note: If you operate under your own personal name as a sole proprietor (self-employed person or independent contractor), you do not have to register your business.
The Uniform Partnership Act (UPA), which includes revisions that are sometimes called the Revised Uniform Partnership Act (RUPA), is a uniform act (similar to a model statute), proposed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws ("NCCUSL") for the governance of business partnerships by U.S. States.
Several versions of UPA have been promulgated by the NCCUSL, the
earliest having been put forth in 1914, and the most recent in 1997.
Enactment by states
The 1914 version of the UPA was enacted into law in every state except Louisiana. The most recent revision has been enacted into law by 37 states. The NCCUSL website lists the states that it considers to have adopted these and other uniform acts. However, due to state variations it is not appropriate to rely upon this listing.
The NCCUSL website lists these states as having adopted UPA (1997): Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota (substantially similar), Tennessee, Texas (substantially similar), U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.