Utube.com v. YouTube.com Universal Tube and Rollform
Equipment (Utube), a dealer of used tube and pipe equipment FACTS: THE COMPLAINT §
Traffic on utube.com has increased from a few thousand
per month to more than 70,000 per day, and that extra traffic has caused Utube’s servers to crash several times. §
The company had to increase their bandwidth to deal
with this extra traffic, increasing costs dramatically (now at $2500
monthly, up from just $100). §
Utube also 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. §
Unwanted visitors often fill Plaintiff's sales request
form in a vulgar and belligerent manner. Read examples here. Read the full complaint here. The lawsuit was filed on THE OTHER SIDE Utube has found a way to capitalize on
their new found success, by displaying links to advertisements at the top
of its website including ringtones, Shakira, and shoes. Additionally, previous media reports have stated that Utube was hoping to sell its utube.com domain at a
significant profit based on its newfound popularity. It has already turned down an offer
for $1 million. It is also convenient timing that this,
and many other lawsuits, have been filed against YouTube
since it was bought by Google in early October 2006. OUTCOME This case is still pending.
