New Mexico Statutes
Article 17 - Business Corporations; Foreign Corporations
Section 53-17-3 - Corporate name of foreign corporation.

A. No certificate of authority shall be issued to a foreign corporation unless the corporate name of the corporation and, if different, the name under which it proposes to transact business in New Mexico:
(1) contains the word "corporation", "company", "incorporated" or "limited" or contains an abbreviation of one of these words or the corporation, for use in this state, adds at the end of its name one of these words or an abbreviation thereof;
(2) does not contain any word or phrase that indicates or implies that it is organized for any purpose other than one or more of the purposes contained in its articles of incorporation or that it is authorized or empowered to conduct a business that a corporation organized under the Business Corporation Act is not permitted to transact; and
(3) is not the same as, or confusingly similar to, the name of any domestic corporation existing under the laws of this state or any foreign corporation authorized to transact business in this state or a name the exclusive right to which is, at the time, reserved in the manner provided in the Business Corporation Act or the name of a corporation that has in effect a registration of its name as provided in the Business Corporation Act.
B. The provisions of Paragraph (3) of Subsection A of this section shall not apply if the foreign corporation applying for a certificate of authority files with the secretary of state any one of the following:
(1) a resolution of its board of directors adopting a fictitious name for use in transacting business in this state, which fictitious name is not confusingly similar to the name of any domestic corporation or of any foreign corporation authorized to transact business in this state or to any name reserved or registered as provided in the Business Corporation Act;
(2) the written consent of such other corporation or holder of a reserved or registered name to use the same or confusingly similar name and one or more words are added to make such name distinguishable from such other name; or
(3) a certified copy of a final decree of a court of competent jurisdiction establishing the prior right of such foreign corporation to the use of such name in this state.
History: 1953 Comp., § 51-30-3, enacted by Laws 1967, ch. 81, § 105; 1975, ch. 64, § 41; 2021, ch. 68, § 6.
Compiler's notes. — This section is derived from Section 108 of the ABA Model Business Corporation Act.
The 2021 amendment, effective July 1, 2021, applied the provisions of this section to the name under which a corporation proposes to transact business in New Mexico if it is different than the corporate name; in Subsection A, after "name of the corporation", added "and, if different, the name under which it proposes to transact business in New Mexico"; and in Subsection B, after "files with the", deleted "commission" and added "secretary of state".
Law reviews. — For article, "1975 Amendments to the New Mexico Business Corporation Act," see 6 N.M.L. Rev. 57 (1975).
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 36 Am. Jur. 2d Corporations §§ 163 to 166.
Right to protection of corporate name, as between domestic corporation and foreign corporation not qualified to do business in state, 26 A.L.R.3d 994.
19 C.J.S. Corporations § 889.