We normally leave software reviews to the techies. But this new “app” is remarkable in its usefulness and simplicity.
Nomina is a new application for the iPhone. Plug in a name you’re considering, and in seconds, the software will search the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database to give you a preliminary look at trademarks. Then it will do a common law search for the name using Dun & Bradstreet, Google, Reuters News and a Yellow Pages database.
Want more screening? You’ll also get domain name searches, starting with the obvious .com, .net and .org, and drilling down to the “second level” and international domains such as .tv and co.uk.
And since this is an Apple app, the program offers you a summary report of all the information that you can e-mail to colleagues. Download the software for $14.99. For more information, click here.
Our lawyer friends caution us that Nomina is no substitute for a formal name screening. True. But it’s a terrific first step to answer the question, “Do we think this name might be available?”
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