1. Availability/Alternatives:
- (.COM) https://www.namecheap.com/domains/registration/gtld/com.aspx
- All extensions: https://www.namecheap.com/domains/registration.aspx
- Verisign Domainscope (.COM/.NET only): https://www.domainscope.com/
- Verisign WHOIS
- http://whois.domaintools.com/
- ICANN WHOIS
- Acronyms/Abbreviations - insert the word you want to find abbreviations for, in place of the * in the following URL: http://www.allacronyms.com/*/abbreviated
- Numeronyms: see Numeronym (Wikipedia article)
2. Trademark
- Trademarks | USPTO: go to "TESS Search Trademark Database"
- trademark247.com
- WIPO Global Brand Database
- TMview
3. UDRP history: http://www.udrpsearch.com/
4. Google search: https://www.google.com
5. Search - Wikipedia
6. Search - Wiktionary
7. Safe Browsing Site Status – Transparency Report – Google: https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/safebrowsing/diagnostic/
8. Internet Archive Wayback machine: http://archive.org/web/
9. Watch out for "Psychological Biases and Pitfalls" in your decisions: Nudge: Biases and Blunders
10. Going to use a new gTLD extension? Check for any Universal Acceptance problems and whether it is a "shady TLD." Also be aware there is no limit on what new gTLD registry operators can charge for new gTLD domain name registration renewal fees in the future (increases at the sole discretion of the registry operator): “There is no cap on money that can be charged ... We don’t impose a limit.”--James Cole, ICANN’s global media coordinator (source: Fusion). Regardless of whether ICANN and the ICANN community intentionally set up the new gTLD program to enable price-gouging, profiteering and financial exploitation of domain name registrants by new gTLD registry operators, ICANN is fond of saying, "ICANN is not a regulator"--
"ICANN is not a regulator and we have limited expertise or authority to assess the legality of [new gTLD registry operator] Vox Populi's activities." -- Allen Grogan*, ICANN's Chief Contract Compliance Officer, 09 Apr 2015 (emphasis added).*How the internet is actually run • The Register: by Kieren McCarthy: "ICANN announced just prior to the meeting [ICANN 51] that there was to be a new head of compliance, Allen Grogan. Grogan had been personally hired by [ICANN] CEO Fadi Chehade as chief contracting counsel in May 2013 and is just one of a wave of employees brought on by Chehade since he started as CEO who have worked with him. Chehade was himself brought into ICANN by his former co-worker and COO Akram Atallah. Grogan will take over from Maguy Serad, who was hired by Atallah as senior compliance director and then promoted to veep on Chehade's first day as CEO. The choice of Serad wasn't popular with compliance staff, who complained she had little experience in compliance work. Serad is the wife of a former co-worker of both Chehade and Atallah, Roger Serad."
In the real world, the above is called "cronyism" and as noted above, is a practice of (now former) ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade that has been tolerated (even encouraged?) by ICANN's passive, often inept, Board of Directors.
Final note on due diligence:
If one has the resources, consider using fee-based options for doing "due diligence" including attorneys and domain name and branding professionals and resources, see e.g.--
- Domain History: http://www.domaintools.com/solutions/domain-investment/ (note: the foregoing may offer free trials and some free services, e.g., WHOIS noted above).
- Igor Naming Process: http://www.igorinternational.com/process/company-product-names.php
