Decision

Decision on UK Castrol Co., Ltd

Updated 29 November 2022

Order under the Companies Act 2006

In the matter of application No. 3743

For a change of company name of registration No. 13411676

Decision

The company name UK CASTROL CO., LTD has been registered since 20 May 2021 under number 13411676.

By an application filed on 18 January 2022, CASTROL LIMITED applied for a change of name of this registration under the provisions of section 69(1) of the Companies Act 2006 (the Act).

A copy of this application was sent to the primary respondent’s registered office on 26 January 2022, in accordance with rule 3(2) of the Company Names Adjudicator Rules 2008. The copy of the application was sent by Royal Mail “Signed For” service and also by standard mail. On 26 January 2022, the Tribunal wrote to Zhenlei Xue and UK Company Made Services Ltd to inform them that the applicant had requested that they be joined to the proceedings. No comments were received from Zhenlei Xue and UK Company Made Services Ltd in relation to this request. On 7 April 2022, Zhenlei Xue and UK Company Made Services Ltd were joined as co-respondents. On 7 April 2022, the parties were advised that no defence had been received to the application and so the adjudicator may treat the application as not being opposed. The parties were granted a period of 14 days to request a hearing in relation to this matter, if they so wished. No request for a hearing was made.

It was subsequently noted that on 3 March 2022 the primary respondent had changed its name. On 5 May 2022, the parties were therefore advised that UK CASTROL CO., LTD had changed its name to CASTROL DAIMLER CO., LTD and that it was the Adjudicator’s preliminary view that the new name was still an offending name. The parties were granted a period of two weeks in which to file any written submissions or to request a hearing on the matter.

On 19 May 2022, the applicant, CASTROL LIMITED advised that they agreed with the adjudicator’s preliminary view that the new name was still an offending name and wished to amend their statement of grounds to object to the new name. No replies were received from the primary respondent or co-respondent. No request for a hearing was made.

On 21 June 2022, the applicant’s amended pleading was sent to the primary respondent’s registered office, in accordance with rule 3(2) of the Company Names Adjudicator Rules 2008. The copy of the amended pleading was sent by Royal Mail “Signed For” service and also by standard mail. Also, on 21 June 2022, a copy of the applicant’s amended pleadings was sent to Zhenlei Xue and UK Company Made Services Ltd by Royal Mail “Signed For” service and also by standard mail.

On 18 August 2022, the parties were advised that no defence had been received and so the adjudicator may treat the respondents as not opposing the application for a new name and to make an order under section 73(1) of the Companies Act 2006 that the respondent company change its name to one that is not an offending name. The parties were granted a period of 14 days to request a hearing in relation to this matter, if they so wished. No request for a hearing was made.

The primary respondent did not file a defence (neither to the first application, nor to the amended pleadings) within the two month period specified by the adjudicator under rule 3(3). Rule 3(4) states:

The primary respondent, before the end of that period, shall file a counter-statement on the appropriate form, otherwise the adjudicator may treat it as not opposing the application and may make an order under section 73(1).

Under the provisions of this rule, the adjudicator may exercise discretion so as to treat the respondent as opposing the application. In this case I can see no reason to exercise such discretion and, therefore, decline to do so.

As the primary respondent has not responded to the allegations made, it is treated as not opposing the application. Therefore, in accordance with section 73(1) of the Act I make the following order:

(a) CASTROL DAIMLER CO., LTD shall change its name within one month of the date of this order to one that is not an offending name;^{[footnote 1]}

(b) CASTROL DAIMLER CO., LTD, Zhenlei Xue and UK Company Made Services Ltd shall:

(i) take such steps as are within their power to make, or facilitate the making, of that change;

(ii) not cause or permit any steps to be taken calculated to result in another company being registered with a name that is an offending name.

In accordance with s.73(3) of the Act, this order may be enforced in the same way as an order of the High Court or, in Scotland, the Court of Session.

In any event, if no such change is made within one month of the date of this order, I will determine a new company name as per section 73(4) of the Act and will give notice of that change under section 73(5) of the Act.

All respondents, including individual co-respondents, have a legal duty under Section 73(1)(b)(ii) of the Companies Act 2006 not to cause or permit any steps to be taken calculated to result in another company being registered with an offending name; this includes the current company. Non-compliance may result in an action being brought for contempt of court and may result in a custodial sentence.

CASTROL LIMITED, having been successful, would normally be entitled to a contribution towards its costs. However, the applicant has confirmed that it did not contact the respondent prior to making the application. In accordance with 10.4.1 of the Company Names Tribunal: Practice Direction 2014, an award of costs will not be made in this case.

Any notice of appeal against this decision to order a change of name must be given within one month of the date of this order. Appeal is to the High Court in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and to the Court of Session in Scotland.

The company adjudicator must be advised if an appeal is lodged, so that implementation of the order is suspended.

Dated 20 September 2022

Susan Eaves
Company Names Adjudicator

1. An “offending name” means a name that, by reason of its similarity to the name associated with the applicant in which he claims goodwill, would be likely to be the subject of a direction under section 67 (power of Secretary of State to direct change of name), or to give rise to a further application under section 69. ↩