Trade Name Registration and Cancellation

Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 10-1-490) requires every "person, firm, or partnership, carrying on in this state any trade or business under any trade name or partnership name or other name" to register the trade name of the business with 30 days from "commencing to do business." As provided by law, the registration shall be filed with 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." 

The registration statement should provide the name or names and addresses of the person, persons, firm, or partnership owning and carrying on said trade or business  and state the nature of the business being carried on and the trade, partnership, or other name used. Upon any change of ownership, a new and amended statement of registration must be filed with the Clerk of Superior Court. The registration form may be downloaded by clicking the link below. 

Notice of the filing 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 re-register except in the event of a change of ownership. 

The fee for filing the registration is $157.00, payable to the Office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of the county where filed. 

To cancel a trade name registration, submit a completed Affidavit to Cancel a Trade Name form (select link below to obtain form) to the Clerk of Superior Court. The cost for filing the cancellation is $12.00 ($10.00 for filing and $2.00 for cross-referencing the cancellation to the original trade name registration).