I'm the author of MINA (Multipurpose Infrastructure for Network Applications) subproject in Apache Directory project. We are checking our project names before releasing them. I checked the name 'MINA', and I found three trademark holders. None of them are software or IT companies.
I found two non-US companis whose names are 'Mina software' and 'MINA systems' and Forth language interpreter called 'Mina.com'.
The language interpreter is Mina. Mina.com appears to be a search site for music. Neither one seems to be well-known.
This is a gray area because you are using it as an acronym. OTOH, your name behind the acronym isn't very descriptive -- is it another container kit?
I want to know it would be OK if I use the name MINA. I've been thinking it is OK ecause MINA is just a girl's name and means 'south' in Japanese. It is also just a girl's name in South Korea.
That doesn't matter. Common names can be used as trade names provided they are distinct within a given market. Would our product be the only one named Mina in the software market?
Google doesn't see anyone claiming it as a trademark. If you really like
that name, I doubt it will be a problem, but keep in mind that we will
have to change it if one of those pre-existing companies complains.
FYI, I really don't like this trend of independent projects being created
within umbrella projects. If you are creating a generic toolkit then
it should be incubated as a separate project. IMO there are too many
single-developer products being masked under the Directory umbrella,
rather than a coherent group of individuals working together on a
single product (and thus having sufficient voters to make collaborative
decisions about that product). This is just my concern, but please
understand that we didn't create Directory in order for it to become
another Jakarta or Avalon.
....Roy
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