(a) No domestic or foreign registered limited liability partnership shall conduct any business in this state under a fictitious name unless it first files with the Secretary of State a form supplied or approved by the Secretary of State giving the following information:

(1) The fictitious name under which business is being or will be conducted by the applicant registered limited liability partnership;

(2) A brief statement of the character of business to be conducted under the fictitious name; and

(3) The name of the registered limited liability partnership, state of organization, and location, giving city and street address, of the registered office in the state of the applicant registered limited liability partnership.

(b) Each such form shall be executed, without verification, in duplicate and filed with the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State shall retain one (1) counterpart and the other counterpart, bearing the file marks of the Secretary of State, shall be returned to the registered limited liability partnership. However, the Secretary of State shall not accept such filing if the proposed fictitious name is the same as, or confusingly similar to, the name of any domestic corporation, limited liability company, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, or any other entity registered with the Secretary of State, or any such foreign entity authorized to do business in the state or any name reserved or registered under § 4-27-402, § 4-27-403, § 4-32-104 or § 4-47-109.

(c) Copies of such filed forms, certified by the respective filing officers, shall be admitted in evidence where the question of filing may be material.

(d) If, after a filing under this section, the applicant registered limited liability partnership is dissolved, or, being a foreign registered limited liability partnership, surrenders or forfeits its rights to do business in Arkansas or, whether a domestic or foreign registered limited liability partnership, ceases to do business in Arkansas under the specified fictitious name, such registered limited liability partnership shall be obligated to file with the Secretary of State a cancellation of its privilege under this section. If such cancellation is not filed, the Secretary of State, upon satisfactory evidence, may cancel such privilege.

(e) If a registered limited liability partnership which has not filed under this section has heretofore or shall hereafter become a party to any contract, deed, conveyance, assignment, or instrument of encumbrance in which such registered limited liability partnership is referred to exclusively by a fictitious name, the obligations imposed upon such registered limited liability partnership under said instrument and the right sought to be conferred upon third parties thereunder may be enforced against it; but the rights accruing to such registered limited liability partnership under said instrument may not be enforced by the registered limited liability partnership in the courts of this state until it complies with this section and pays to the Treasurer of State a civil penalty of three hundred dollars ($300), and in any suit by a registered limited liability partnership upon an instrument which identified it exclusively by a fictitious name, the registered limited liability partnership shall be required to allege compliance with this section.

(f) Compliance with this section does not give a registered limited liability partnership an exclusive right to the use of the fictitious name, and the registration of a fictitious name under this section will not bar the use of the same name as the name of any domestic entity or any foreign entity authorized to do business in this state. But this chapter is not intended to bar any aggrieved party, in such a situation, from applying for equitable relief under principles of fair trade law.