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“It’s not uncommon for a company of our size to protect trademarks in order to keep future options open for various projects or entities,” said Mark Cooper, a TransCanada spokesman. He declined to comment on whether the company is considering changing its name, saying it’s company practice not to speak to rumours or speculation.

The pipeline giant was founded in 1951 to develop a pipeline that would move natural gas produced in the western provinces to markets in the country’s east. That line is now known as the Canadian mainline.

TransCanada also has received approval notices for Valentis Energy and Vectura Energy, but hasn’t published them. All of the applications are for names of companies that build and operate oil and natural gas pipelines, while some also include the sale of downloadable computer software for ordering natural gas transportation and storage services.

The applications for Convergent and Northbow were filed in February 2016, a few weeks before the Columbia takeover was announced. All of the others were filed late in June 2016, just days before the deal was completed.

TransCanada, based in Calgary, rose 1.5 per cent to $62.64 at 12:28 p.m. in Toronto. The shares were up 2 percent this year through Monday. The company is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on Thursday.

Bloomberg.com