Enter words related to your business to get started.
Key Information
Legal Name | Louisiana Secretary of State |
Address | 8585 Archives Ave., Baton Rouge, LA 70809 |
Telephone | |
Website | https://coraweb.sos.la.gov/commercialsearch/commercialsearch.aspx |
How to Do a Louisiana Business Search:
Follow our step-by-step guide to performing a thorough business search using the applicable online tools.
Conduct a Louisiana business search online.
Go to the Louisiana Business Filings Search page.
Louisiana's SOS website offers a Business Filings Search tool that citizens can use to search for business entities.
You will have the option to search by entity name, trade registration or charter number, or officer or agent name.
Enter your proposed business name in the search field.
Type your preferred business name into the search field next to "Entity name." Leave out all identifiers, such as "LLC" or "Corporation," as well as all punctuation. Complete the reCAPTCHA request displayed at the bottom and select "Search."
For a more thorough search, only type in the first word or two of your proposed business name. You can also search alternate spellings of your proposed business names as well as similar-sounding names.
View your search results.
If your chosen business name has not been registered, you will see a table with zero results. Otherwise, the table will show a list of businesses with the same or similar names and will include information on the entity name, registration type, city, as well as a link for additional details.
Go through the results, checking for any business names that match your own or that are deceptively similar.
Business entities that are shown in bold are active business registrations.
Be sure to look out for trademarks too, as those will present in the search results if you have searched a single keyword.
Additional Louisiana business search steps.
Do a domain name search.
In order to establish your online presence and help your customers to find you, it is important that you check that the domain matching your business name is available.
Search the USPTO database.
Search the United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) trademark database to check that your name has not been federally trademarked or is in the process of being federally trademarked.
Reserve your business name.
Louisiana's SOS website offers a very useful site called geauxBIZ.com. You can reserve your chosen business name on this site by creating an account or signing in. Then, follow the steps to first create a business license checklist and, in the second step, to file a Name Reservation Application.
If you do not want to use the geauxBIZ site, you can simply download and complete the Reservation of Name Application and mail it to the SOS with your $25.00 filing fee. More information and instructions can be found in the download.
When you are ready to register your business, you can simply log into your account on geauxBIZ.com and proceed to step 3.
Consider registering a state trademark.
Your earlier name search would have also shown results for trademarks with the state of Louisiana. Chat to a lawyer about the necessity of trademarking your business name.
If you decide to trademark your business name, you can find the forms you need on the SOS website under "Trade Names, Trademarks, Service Marks".
