LEGAL PHASES OF COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS 11 
of identification. Fundamentally the incorporators of a corpora- 
tion may select any name they choose for the corporation that is not 
an imitation of a name already used by a corporation engaged in 
the same line of business that the new corporation will be engaged 
in. Statutory provisions in reference to this subject now exist in 
many States. These provisions frequently require that the name 
shall clearly indicate that the corporation is incorporated. Some- 
times the statutes require that the name shall include the word 
" corporation," " incorporated," or the abbreviation " Inc." Restric- 
tions prohibiting the adoption of a name already used or so similar 
thereto as to be easily mistaken therefor exist in many States. 
Independent of statute, for one corporation to imitate the name 
of another corporation may, depending on the circumstances, con- 
stitute unfair competition, and if such is the case the courts will 
enjoin the corporation that is guilty of such imitation. In an Oregon 
case 44 it was said, " In any case, to entitle the complaining corpora- 
tion to an injunction, the name used by defendant, when not the same 
as that of plaintiff, must be so similar thereto that, under all the 
circumstances of locality, business, etc., its use is in itself reasonably 
calculated to deceive the pubiic and result in injury to plaintiff, 
or else it must be used fraudulently in such a way as to have that 
effect." The court further said : " Injunction will be refused where 
no probability of deception by reason of the name is shown. Priority 
in adoption and use usually confers the superior right." 
The statutes of a number of States prohibit the use of the word 
" cooperative " in the name of a corporation unless the corporation 
is in fact a cooperative one or unless it is organized under a certain 
statute. 
The term " association " standing alone at common law and in the 
absence of a statute does not have a definite legal meaning. It 
suggests an organization, but whether the organization is incorpo- 
rated or unincorporated is unknown. Probably to many it suggests 
a corporation, and many of the statutes providing for the incorpora- 
tion of a cooperative association state that the term means a corpo- 
ration. But in the absence of a statute making it so the term is not 
synonymous with corporation. The words " exchange," " union," 
and " company " likewise do not have an exact meaning, but to many 
they undoubtedly mean the same as the word " corporation," and in 
a number of the States statutes for the incorporation of coopera- 
tive associations provide that they are synonymous with the word 
" corporation." 
CHARTER 
In the days when corporations were formed through applying to 
the king, the paper or instrument which was issued by him, if he 
acted favorably on the application, was called the charter. It was 
evidence that a corporation had been formed, and it stated the ob- 
jects, powers, and limitations. Again, when corporations were 
created by special acts of the legislature, 45 the act setting forth simi- 
44 TJmpqua Broccoli Exch. v. Um-Qua Valley Broccoli Growers, Or. , 245 P. 
324. See also Terry v. Cooper, 171 Ark 722, 286 S. W. 806 ; Drugs Consolidated, Inc., 
v. Drug Incorporated, Del. Ch. , 144 A. 656. 
45 It is interesting to note that the Eastern Shore Produce Exchange, a cooperative 
organization of Onley, Va., was created by a special act of the general assembly of that 
State. 
