Editorial policy

The reference pages on this site deal with legal and administrative rules: registry procedures, statutory tests, filing windows and fees. Being wrong about those costs readers money. This page sets out how the pages are written and checked, so you can judge how far to rely on them, and what to do when they are wrong.

What the pages are, and are not

They are general reference material for people choosing or protecting a business name. They explain how a system works and point to the primary source for every rule they state. They are not legal advice. They do not assess any particular name or dispute, and the people who write them are not lawyers or trademark attorneys, as the about page says. Where a decision needs professional judgement, the page says so.

Sources

Every rule, deadline, fee and procedural step on a reference page must be traceable to a primary source:

• legislation and regulations, as published by the government concerned (for example legislation.gov.uk, the Delaware Code, the Irish Statute Book or EUR-Lex);
• the published guidance, forms and fee schedules of the body that applies the rule: registries and company registers such as Companies House, ASIC, ACRA and the CRO; intellectual-property offices such as the USPTO, UK IPO, EUIPO and WIPO; and ICANN and domain registries;
• published decisions of courts and tribunals, cited by name.

Each page lists its main sources in a “Check it yourself” box, linking to the source rather than to a summary of it. Secondary sources, such as law-firm briefings or news reports, are used only to find primary material, or where the primary material is not yet available in a usable form. When that happens, the page says so in the text. The Saudi Arabia page is currently an example.

Where an official source does not state a figure clearly, or sources disagree, the page does not pick one and present it as fact. It either says what is uncertain or sends you to the official page for the current figure.

How a page is checked

1. Before publication, every factual statement about a rule is checked against the source cited for it, and figures are copied from the source rather than from memory or another site.
2. Examples are either clearly labelled as illustrations, with invented names such as “Northwind”, or are real, documented cases cited so you can find them. We do not invent case outcomes, statistics, testimonials or quotations.
3. Dates: each page shows when it was published or last checked, at the foot of the page and in its structured data. A date changes only when the content has actually been re-checked or changed. We do not refresh dates to make pages look current.
4. Review: pages that state fees or deadlines are re-checked when the issuing body announces a change, and periodically otherwise. The page's date tells you when that last happened.

Use of software and AI tools

We use software tools in research and drafting, including AI writing assistance. Those tools do not decide what a page says about a rule. The source checks above apply to every statement whatever produced the first draft, and a statement that cannot be traced to a source is removed. Tool output is treated as a draft, never as a source.

Corrections

If something on a page is wrong or out of date, tell us. Name the page, say what is wrong, and point to the source if you can. We will:

• check the claim against the primary source;
• correct the page if it is wrong, and update its date;
• for a correction that changes a rule, deadline or figure, add a short note on the page saying what changed and when.

We do not quietly rewrite a substantive error as if it had never been there.

Independence and advertising

The site is unaffiliated with any registry, registrar, intellectual-property office or law firm, and is paid for by advertising, as set out in how this is paid for. Advertisers have no say over content. Pages do not recommend specific registrars, search services or advisers in return for payment. Where we name a commercial service at all, it is because it is the only practical way to do something, for example the private search houses that sell Ontario NUANS reports.

The name checker

The checker on the home page runs live registry lookups for domains and runs its other checks in your browser. It follows the same principle as the reference pages. When a registry does not answer clearly it reports “unknown” rather than guessing, and it never reports a name as clear for trademark purposes. The privacy notice covers what it sends and stores.

Published 2026-10-18.