I was directed from a GM to the Support Forums, which I was then directed to call Support, and then directed to post here regarding my inquiry.
I don't know if this is Technical Support worthy...

My inquiry is in regards to long inactive Free Companies and the names becoming available for use again. A few friends are looking to try out FFXIV and I was looking at establishing a Free Company for us all. The kicker is that a lot of the names I was looking at utilizing seem to already be in use. I was considering purchasing various names/FCs from the owners to see if I could get anyone to bite, but nearly all of them seem to be inactive since around ARR times.

Is there not a time line or a petition option to disband dead Free Companies to free up their names for further use? I thought I had recalled there being an option in the past, but I can't seem to find any information on it now.