950 CMR, § 140.49 - Search Logic

Search results shall be produced by applying only standardized search logic to each name presented to the filing officer. Human judgment shall not play a role in determining the results of the search. The standardized search logic used shall meet the following criteria:

(1) There is no limit to the number of matches that may be returned in response to the search criteria.

(2) The characters searched are letters "a" through "z" and numbers 0 through 9. The following English letters shall also return the following non-English Latin characters in a name:

Click to view image

(3) No distinction is made between uppercase and lowercase letters, and all letters are converted to uppercase in the filing office database. Each search request shall be processed using the name in the exact form in which it is submitted. If no data is submitted in a given field, the search request shall be processed without reference to the field, except as provided in 950 CMR 140.49.

(4) Punctuation marks, accents and suffixes are disregarded. All characters in the extended ASCII character set (Windows-1252) not otherwise defined in 950 CMR 140.49(2) shall be disregarded.

(5) Words and abbreviations at the end of a name that indicate the existence or nature of an organization are disregarded. These words and abbreviations include the following:

(a) "Corporation" or the abbreviation "Corp.";

(b) "Incorporated" or the abbreviation "Inc.";

(c) "Professional corporation," or the abbreviations "Prof. corp." or "P.C.";

(d) "Company" or the abbreviation "Co.";

(e) "Limited" or the abbreviation "Ltd.";

(f) "Limited partnership," or the abbreviations "Ltd. partnership," "Ltd. part." "L.P";

(g) "Limited liability company" or the abbreviations "L.L.C' or "L.L.Co.";

(h) "Limited liability partnership," "Massachusetts limited liability partnership" or the abbreviation "L.L.P.";

(i) "Massachusetts business trust" or "Business trust";

(6) The word "the" at the beginning of an organization name is disregarded;

(7) All Spaces are disregarded;

(8) For additional names of individuals (initials), initials are equated with all names that begin with these initials, and the absence of an additional name or initials is equated with all additional names and initials;

(9) If the name being searched is the surname of an individual debtor name without any first personal or additional name (initials) provided, the search will retrieve from the UCC information management system all financing statements with individual names that consist only of the surname.

(10) The word "and" and the character "&" are disregarded;

(11) After using the criteria specified in 950 CMR 140.49 to modify the name of the debtor requested to be searched, the search shall reveal only names of debtors that are contained in unlapsed financing statements and exactly match the name requested, as modified.

Notes

950 CMR, § 140.49