Having a registered company is NOT enough to prevent others from stealing your brand name. If that’s your concern, a registered trademark is the only real protection you can get. A company name is NOT the same thing as a brand name. Your company name is also called a trade name – a name you use to do business. A brand name – also called a trademark – identifies your products. (Think of Apple Inc. (company name) and the iPhone (brand name), or Pepsico Inc. (company name) and Pepsi (the name of the drink – brand name).