YouTube faces lawsuit from holder of similar domain

LATEST NEWS

Computerworld is New Zealand's only specialised information systems fortnightly.
Subscribe now for $100 (23 issues) and save more than 37% off the cover price!

Get the latest news from Computerworld delivered via email.
Sign up now

Skyrocketing traffic has crashed Universal Tube’s servers several times

By Nancy Gohring | Dublin | Wednesday, 15 November, 2006

A dealer of used tube and pipe equipment has filed a lawsuit with the aim of stripping YouTube of its domain name.

Universal Tube and Rollform Equipment, based in Ohio, says confusion between its website, utube.com, and youtube.com is damaging its reputation and costing it thousands of dollars.

The firm filed its suit against YouTube Monday in the US District Court for Northern Ohio.

Since Google announced in early October that it plans to purchase YouTube, visitors to utube.com have skyrocketed, from a few thousand per month to more than 70,000 per day, Universal Tube says.

That extra traffic has crashed Universal Tube’s servers several times, forcing the company to switch ISPs, at an additional monthly cost, in order to handle the increased traffic, it says.

Universal Tube also says it now receives rude emails from people confused about why they can’t find videos on utube.com, calls from journalists wanting to write about the confusion and even messages from law enforcement officials trying to track down the source of child porn posted on youtube.com.

“[The] plaintiff has lost its kingdom within its domain,” the suit claims, in an attempt at humour.

Universal Tube is asking the court to stop YouTube from using the Youtube.com domain and turn it over to Universal Tube, and monetary damages.

Previous media reports have said that Universal Tube, while dismayed at being inundated by more visitors to its site than it could handle, was hoping to sell its utube.com domain at a significant profit based on its newfound popularity.