2022 Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 183 - Uniform limited liability company law.
183.0112 - Permitted names.

183.0112 Permitted names.

(1) The name of a limited liability company must contain the phrase “limited liability company" or “limited company" or the abbreviation “LLC" or “LC" or a variation of these abbreviations that differs only with respect to capitalization of letters or punctuation. “Limited" may be abbreviated as “Ltd.," and “company" may be abbreviated as “Co."

(2) The name of a limited liability company, and the name under which a foreign limited liability company may register to do business in this state, must be distinguishable on the records of the department from all of the following:

(a) Any name of an existing person whose formation required the filing of a record by the department and which is not at the time administratively dissolved.

(b) Any name of a limited liability partnership whose statement of qualification is in effect.

(c) Any name under which a person is registered to do business in this state by the filing of a record by the department.

(d) Any name reserved under s. 183.0113 or other law of this state providing for the reservation of a name by the filing of a record by the department.

(e) Any name registered under s. 183.0114 or other law of this state providing for the registration of a name by the filing of a record by the department.

(3m) A limited liability company or foreign limited liability company may apply to the department for authorization to use in this state a name that is not distinguishable upon the records of the department from one or more of the names described in sub. (2). The department shall authorize use of the name applied for if any of the following occurs:

(a) The corporation, limited liability company, nonstock corporation, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, foreign limited partnership, general cooperative association, or limited cooperative association that has or has registered or reserved the name consents in writing to the use and submits an undertaking in a form satisfactory to the department to change its name to a name that is distinguishable upon the records of the department from the name of the applicant, or to cancel the registration or reservation.

(b) The applicant delivers to the department a certified copy of a final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction establishing the applicant's right to use the name applied for in this state.

(4) In determining whether a name is the same as or not distinguishable on the records of the department from the name of another person, words, phrases, or abbreviations indicating the type of person, such as “corporation," “Corp.," “incorporated," “Inc.," “service corporation," “SC," “Limited," “ Ltd.," “limited partnership," “LP," “limited liability partnership," “LLP," “ registered limited liability partnership," “RLLP," “limited liability limited partnership," “LLLP," “registered limited liability limited partnership," “RLLLP," “limited liability company," “LLC," “cooperative association," or “cooperative," or a variation of these abbreviations that differs only with respect to capitalization of letters or punctuation, may not be taken into account.

(6) The name of a limited liability company or foreign limited liability company may not contain language stating or implying that the limited liability company is organized for a purpose subject to regulation under another statute of this state, unless its purpose is not prohibited by, and the entity is subject to all the limitations of, the other statute.

(9m) A limited liability company or foreign limited liability company may use in this state the name, including the fictitious name, that is used in this state by a corporation, limited liability company, nonstock corporation, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, foreign limited liability company, general cooperative association, or limited cooperative association if the limited liability company or foreign limited liability company proposing to use the name has done any of the following:

(a) Merged with the other business entity.

(b) Been formed by reorganization of the other business entity.

(c) Acquired all or substantially all of the assets, including the name, of the other business entity.

History: 2021 a. 258.