Is there an American equivalent to Nominet?

Do you mean in terms of doing a Whois lookup, or trying to wrestle a domain off someone?

I think http://www.internic.net/ is the closest global version

Also have a look at https://www.icann.org/

No worries, any time ?

Sorry Flump, didn't notice your replies until just now! Thanks for helping out. ? I have 2 friends who would like to try to get a domain name from someone removed (their company names, but this woman doesn't want to let go even though her company name is totally different). I once managed to get domain name in a dispute with Nominet so was wondering if the same exists for the US.

Don't waste your time - anyone can buy anythign in the US. You don't need to be using it as a company name or anything.