Directions for Registration of Firm Name

1. You may register your firm name with the Register of Deeds if your firm is a
   • sole proprietorship
   • general partnership
   • association
2. If your firm is a corporation or limited partnership, you need to register it with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) Corporations Section (608-261-7577), 345 W. Washington Ave., 3rd floor, P.O. Box 7846, Madison WI 53707-7846.
   
   If your firm is a corporation and you wish to file a Trademark as per s.132.01, contact the Secretary of State's Office. In addition, Trade Name documents (also termed, "Doing Business As") may be filed with the Secretary of State and recorded with the local register of deeds as per 132.04.
3. For firm names to be registered in this office, use the registration of firm names form. The form may be printed from this web page. It must be completely filled out legibly, using black ink. Your signature must be notarized, so don't sign until you are witnessed by a notary public.
4. Before filling out the form, you must check to make sure no one else in Dane County is using your desired firm name.
   • First of all, check the listings in the phone directory.
   • Next, look in our real estate index either in this office or in "Tapestry". Just enter as much of the name as you can in the "last name" field. If there is an exact match you will be charged $3.99 for the search, but usually there is no match and so you are charged nothing.
   • Third, you should check the DFI corporation names index at http://www.wdfi.org/corporations/crispix/
   • The last step is to contact the Trademark specialist with the Secretary of State's Office at 608-266-5653 to make certain the name has not been used.
5. The fee for recording a firm name document is $30.
6. Your form must be filled out completely. Be sure to put your return address and document drafter on the form. Mail it to:

   Register of Deeds
   PO BOX 1438
   Madison WI 53701-1438

   along with a check for the recording fee.