Need some opinions.

[Ronald Regging]

Just registered visalite [dot] com and visa-lite [dot] com on the news that the US government is planning to create an internet based system where people from other countries can pre-register and be pre-screened in order to come to the US. From what I can gather, it's going to be called visa-lite. Purely speculative purchase here as its just a proposal. Obviously they'll be using an official .gov website here if they do it, so it's not like I'm planning on them buying them off me or anything

New visa-lite program

The problem I'm facing though is that I don't want to infringe on Visa credit cards in any way. Right now the domains just point to my nameservers, showing absolutely nothing when you go to them. Meaning no possibility of PPC or anything else that may be construed as infringing.

Eventually what I want to do is setup a travel visa information site. I'd also like to put up PPC ads for those services. Do you think I'd be fairly safe in doing this?

 

[domainer50]

If you are worried about Visa. Look at dellwebsites.com That guy was sued by dell for copyright infringement. So yes visa can and possibly will sue you, if the name visa is in your doamin. Either way, i would just lay low with the names, and see if you can get a quick sale for them.

 

[Ronald Regging]

I dont want a quick sale. Like I said, I plan to develop them into travel visa information sites and hope like hell the US government passes this into law and creates a program called visa-lite. The traffic would probably be tremendous, and Travel Visa is a decent paying keyword. Definitely something I want to develop. I guess I'll have to take my chances here. But I think as long as I don't do anything that infringes on Visa's TM, I should be in the clear. I may get sued, but I'll have a strong case. I have no intent whatsoever to infringe on their TM.

 

[Kate]

Visa is a generic keyword and if you develop according to your plans I see no problems. If you stick to the travel industry then it would be hard for them to claim this is not a bona fide registration.
BTW be careful if you park the page and choose your keywords wisely. Since you don't control the advertiser feeds it's hard to guarantee some credit card related ads won't appear here and there

 

[Ronald Regging]

BTW be careful if you park the page and choose your keywords wisely. Since you don't control the advertiser feeds it's hard to guarantee some credit card related ads won't appear here and there

Yeah thats my only concern. Right now, like I said, its not even parked (well no PPC, just a 404 response). But even once i get it developed, I still have to worry about the possibility of a credit card ad appearing through adsense. I guess I'll just have to try to block those ads in adsense and take steps to ensure it isnt infringing. Thanks for the opinions everyone.

 

[deu12000]

I have done something similar. I have a couple of websites where I get $2-3 per click and it's all government related (for the last few years). I'm not a UDRP pro or anything in the least (I've never had a problem with ICANN) I would risk it. Visa Lite as far as I know isn't a credit card. You have to look at it from that angle.

 

[Dave_Z]

Visa is a generic keyword

Generic as what?

Shell is generic as a mollusk, but not for oil products.

 

[fonzie_007]

Your best defense is developing the site(s) immediately for visa/travel purposes.

 

[Mike]

Yep, Fonz is head-on. the sooner you distance yourself from the opportunity to be mistaken as a visa (credit card) related tool, the better it is. Visa related forums/ tips/ hints/ attorney referral, etc. and plugging into the emerging government news that develop in this direction, you should be on safe grounds.

Meanwhile, tweak adsense, but you said that already.

best of luck

 

[Ronald Regging]

Thanks for the opinions guys. I've already contacted a bunch of end-users to see if I can spark some interest in this. Basically other sites that provide visa and immigration informational kits, forms and registration services, as well as immigration lawyers. This is a huge market and apparently in 2005, there were 175 million arrivals of non-immigrants in the US (meaning tourists, business people, students, etc)... If this program goes through, the potential for this is unbelievable. I think in the meantime I will throw up a notice on the site informing visitors of my intentions to develop it as such, just so there are no questions about my intentions.

I guess if I get a great offer I'll go for the quick sale