(805 ILCS 317/21)

Sec. 21. Limited worker cooperative association; name.

(a) The name of each limited worker cooperative association organized, existing, or subject to the provisions of this Act:

(1) shall contain the terms "Limited Worker Cooperative Association", "LWCA", or "L.W.C.A.".

(2) may not contain a word or phrase, or an abbreviation or derivation thereof, the use of which is prohibited or restricted by any other statute of this State unless the restriction has been complied with;

(3) shall consist of letters of the English alphabet, Arabic or Roman numerals, or symbols capable of being readily reproduced by the Office of the Secretary of State;

(4) shall not contain any of the following terms: "Corporation", "Corp.", "Incorporated", "Inc.", "Ltd.", "Co.", "LLC", "Limited Partnership", or "L.P.";

(5) shall be the name under which the limited worker cooperative association transacts business in this State unless the limited worker cooperative association also elects to adopt an assumed name or names as provided in this Act; however, the limited worker cooperative association may use any divisional designation or trade name without complying with the requirements of this Act if the limited worker cooperative association also clearly discloses its name;

(6) shall not contain any word or phrase that indicates or implies that the limited worker cooperative association is authorized or empowered to be in the business of a corporate fiduciary unless otherwise permitted by the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation under Section 1-9 of the Corporate Fiduciary Act. The word "trust", "trustee", or "fiduciary" may be used by a limited worker cooperative association only if it has first complied with Section 1-9 of the Corporate Fiduciary Act; and

(7) shall contain the word "trust", if it is a limited worker cooperative association organized for the purpose of accepting and executing trusts.

(b) Nothing in this Act shall abrogate or limit the common law or statutory law of unfair competition or unfair trade practices, nor derogate from the common law or principles of equity or the statutes of this State or of the United States of America with respect to the right to acquire and protect copyrights, trade names, trademarks, service marks, service names, or any other right to the exclusive use of names or symbols.

(c) The name shall be distinguishable upon the records in the Office of the Secretary of State from the name of all of the following:

(1) Any limited worker cooperative that has articles of organization filed with the Secretary of State.

(2) Any limited liability company that has articles of organization filed with the Secretary of State under Section 5-5 of the Limited Liability Company Act.

(3) Any foreign limited liability company admitted to transact business in this State.

(4) Any name for which an exclusive right has been reserved in the Office of the Secretary of State under Section 1-15 of the Limited Liability Company Act.

(5) Any assumed name that is registered with the Secretary of State under Section 1-20 of the Limited Liability Company Act.

(6) Any corporate name or assumed corporate name of a domestic or foreign corporation subject to the provisions of Section 4.05 of the Business Corporation Act of 1983 or Section 104.05 of the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986.

(d) Subsection (c) of this Section shall not apply if the organizer files with the Secretary of State a certified copy of a final judgment of a court establishing the prior right of the applicant to the use of that name in this State.

(e) The Secretary of State shall determine whether a name is distinguishable from another name for the purposes of this Act. Without excluding other names that may not constitute distinguishable names in this State, a name is not considered distinguishable, for purposes of this Act, solely because it contains one or more of the following:

(1) The word "limited", "worker", "cooperative", or "association" or an abbreviation of one of those words.

(2) Articles, conjunctions, contractions, abbreviations, or different tenses or number of the same word.

(Source: P.A. 102-351, eff. 8-13-21.)