O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 10-1-490 (2019)

Required registration statement for business using trade, partnership, or other name not showing ownership

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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(a) Every person, firm, or partnership carrying on in this state any trade or business under any trade name or partnership name or other name which does not disclose the individual ownership of the trade, business, or profession carried on under such name shall, within 30 days from March 29, 1937, or thereafter before commencing to do business, file in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the county in which the business is chiefly carried on or, in the case of a domestic corporation using any name other than its corporate name, in the county of its legal domicile, a registration statement, verified by affidavit, setting forth the name or names and addresses of the person, persons, firm, or partnership owning and carrying on said trade or business and stating the nature of the business being carried on and the trade, partnership, or other name used and shall, upon any change of ownership, likewise file a new and amended statement of registration. Notice of such filing giving the names and addresses of each person, firm, or partnership to engage in business under such trade name or

partnership name shall be published in the paper in which the sheriff’s advertisements are printed once a week for two weeks. No person, firm, or partnership already registered shall be required to reregister except in the event of a change of ownership. (b) The clerk shall register the same by filing the verified statement in his office and shall keep an alphabetical index of all such registrations in a permanent record book to be kept in his office, the index to show the trade, partnership, or other name registered and in connection therewith the names of the owners. The applicant for registration shall accompany each registration statement with the fee prescribed by Code Section 15-6-77, relating to fees of clerks of the superior courts, as amended.

History

Ga. L. 1929, p. 233, §§ 1-3; Code 1933, §§ 106-301, 106-302; Ga. L. 1937, p. 804, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1943, p. 398, § 1; Ga. L. 1970, p. 497, § 9; Ga. L. 1981, p. 872, § 2; Ga. L. 1989, p. 14, § 10.

Annotations

Law reviews. For article, “Post-Creation Checklist for Georgia Business Entities,” see 9 Ga. St. B. J. 34 (2004).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Affidavit must be made by person operating under trade name. - This section, requiring registration, in the office of the clerk of the superior court of persons doing business under a trade name by filing an affidavit signed by the person doing business, in which is set forth the name and address of the true owner of the business, requires that the affidavit be made by the person who operates under the trade name referred to in the affidavit. Laurens Glass Works v.

Childs, 49 Ga. App. 590, 176 S.E. 665, 1934 Ga. App. LEXIS 501 (1934). Affidavit does not create presumption against prior registration. - Evidence that the members of a partnership filed an affidavit in the office of the clerk of the superior court to register a partnership trade name does not create a presumption of fact that such trade name had not been previously registered. Butler v. Ragsdale, 54 Ga. App. 565, 188 S.E. 578, 1936 Ga. App. LEXIS 702 (1936).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Use of trade name by corporation. - Corporation may do business in Georgia under trade name. 1945-47 Ga. Op. Att’y Gen. 652. Branch offices under different

names. - Licensed real estate broker may establish branch offices under different names, provided that the broker complies with this part. 1952-53 Ga. Op. Att’y Gen. 408.

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. Pleading and Practice Forms. 23A Am. Jur. Pleading and Practice Forms, Trademarks and Tradenames, § 1.

ALR. Construction and effect of statutes as to doing business under an assumed or fictitious name or designation not showing

SELLING/OTHER TRADE PRACTICES

the names of the persons interested, 45 A.L.R. 198; 42 A.L.R.2d 516. “Business sign” statute as affecting order of priority among creditors of person transacting business, 124 A.L.R. 169.

Right to use firm name on dissolution of partnership, 173 A.L.R. 444. Incorporation of company under particular name as creating exclusive right to such name, 68 A.L.R.3d 1168.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 11 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1987–2025 · leading case: Future Professionals, Inc. v. Darby, 470 S.E.2d 644 (Ga. 1996).

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Future Professionals, Inc. v. Darby, 470 S.E.2d 644 (Ga. 1996). · cites it 12× “2d 117 , merely holds that one of the parties therein could not claim the protection of the Act because it "failed to register its name as required by OCGA § 10-1-490." (Emphasis supplied.) By its terms, OCGA § 10-1-490 mandates registration of certain trade names and OCGA §…”

Stuart Enter. Int'l, Inc. v. Peykan, Inc., 555 S.E.2d 881 (Ga. Ct. App. 2001). · cites it 2× “” Ahmadipour did not file a trademark with the Secretary of State, although he did register the trade name “Munchie’s” with the Superior Court of Clarke County as required by OCGA § 10-1-490. Stuart argued that the prior registration of the trademark by a third party prevented…”

Isbell v. Credit Nation Lending Serv., LLC, 735 S.E.2d 46 (Ga. Ct. App. 2012). · cites it 2× “While the FBPA proscribes practices that “caus[e] actual confusion or actual misunderstanding as to the source, sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods or services,” OCGA § 10-1-393 (b) (2), the Isbells’ claim of confusion is belied by the record.”

Crolley v. Haygood Contracting, Inc., 411 S.E.2d 907 (Ga. Ct. App. 1991). · cites it 2× “Similarly, there is no evidence the alleged trade name at issue was registered by CFI under OCGA § 10-1-490 so as to put appellee on notice of the usage of the name.”

Stone v. Allen, 412 S.E.2d 605 (Ga. Ct. App. 1991). · cites it 2× “The name “Pools by Stone” was not registered as a trade name of Poolco as required by OCGA § 10-1-490. See Jones v. Burlington Indus.”

In re Allison, 481 S.E.2d 211 (Ga. 1997). · cites it 2× “See OCGA § 10-1-490. These Standards provide as follows: Standard 35: A lawyer shall decline proffered employment if the exercise of his independent professional judgment on behalf of a client will be or is likely to be adversely affected by his representation of another client,…”

Elite Pers., Inc. v. Elite Pers. Servs., Inc., 378 S.E.2d 117 (Ga. 1989). · cites it 2× “Finally, defendant argues that it is entitled to trade name protection under the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act and that plaintiff should be enjoined from using the name Elite Personnel Services, Inc.”

Jonathan Isbell v. Credit Nation Lending Serv. (Ga. Ct. App. 2012). · cites it 2× “Notably, under OCGA § 10-1-490, a company is allowed to use trade names, and the statute imposes no limit on the number of trade names a business can use.”

JCD, Inc. v. HRI Hosp. LLC (E.D. La. 2025). “10 at 9 (citing Ga. Code § 10-1-490 (“Every … domestic corporation using any name other than its corporate name [shall file in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the county] of its legal domicile, a registration statement ….”

In Re Simpson Motor Co., 101 B.R. 813 (Bankr. N.D. Ga. 1989). · cites it 2× “On September 1, 1982, the debtor filed a Trade Name Registration under O.C.G.A. § 10-1-490 with the clerk of the Superior Court of Habersham County registering the trade name “Cornelia Car City.”

Loeb v. Schafer Bros. (In re the Austin Grp., Inc.), 80 B.R. 255 (D. Ga. 1987). “§ 10-1-490. The name The Austin Group, Inc.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.