(a) The Secretary of State shall not file articles setting forth a name in which “bank,” “trust,” “trustee,” or related words appear, unless the certificate of approval of the Commissioner of Business Oversight is attached to the articles. This subdivision does not apply to the articles of any social purpose corporation subject to the Banking Law on which is endorsed the approval of the Commissioner of Business Oversight.

(b) (1) The Secretary of State shall not file articles that set forth a name that is likely to mislead the public or that is the same as, or resembles so closely as to tend to deceive, the name of a domestic corporation, the name of a domestic social purpose corporation, or the name of a foreign corporation that is authorized to transact intrastate business or has registered its name pursuant to Section 2101, a name that a foreign corporation has assumed under subdivision (b) of Section 2106, a name that will become the record name of a corporation or social purpose corporation or a foreign corporation upon the effective date of a filed corporate instrument where there is a delayed effective date pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 110 or subdivision (c) of Section 5008, or a name that is under reservation for another corporation or social purpose corporation pursuant to this title, except that a social purpose corporation may adopt a name that is substantially the same as an existing corporation or social purpose corporation, foreign or domestic, which is authorized to transact intrastate business or has registered its name pursuant to Section 2101, upon proof of consent by the domestic or foreign corporation or social purpose corporation and a finding by the Secretary of State that under the circumstances the public is not likely to be misled. The use by a social purpose corporation of a name in violation of this section may be enjoined notwithstanding the filing of its articles by the Secretary of State.

(2) A corporation formed pursuant to this division before January 1, 2015, may elect to change its status from a flexible purpose corporation to a social purpose corporation by amending its articles of incorporation to change its name to replace “flexible purpose corporation” with “social purpose corporation” and to replace the term “flexible purpose corporation” with “social purpose corporation” as applicable in any statements contained in the articles. For any flexible purpose corporation formed prior to January 1, 2015, that has not amended its articles of incorporation to change its status to a social purpose corporation, any reference in this division to social purpose corporation shall be deemed a reference to “flexible purpose corporation.”

(c) Any applicant may, upon payment of the fee prescribed in Article 3 (commencing with Section 12180) of Chapter 3 of Part 2 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, obtain from the Secretary of State a certificate of reservation of any name not prohibited by subdivision (b), and upon the issuance of the certificate the name stated in the certificate shall be reserved for a period of 60 days. The Secretary of State shall not, however, issue certificates reserving the same name for two or more consecutive 60-day periods to the same applicant or for the use or benefit of the same person. No consecutive reservations shall be made by or for the use or benefit of the same person of names so similar as to fall within the prohibitions of subdivision (b).

(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 277, Sec. 5. (AB 2907) Effective January 1, 2017.)