November 4, 2006 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Google’s recent 1.6-billion-dollar purchase of YouTube.com and the copyrighted video material hosted on its servers led many to speculate about the possibility of the company facing lawsuits from copyright owners. Although the profits of doom were correct, and Google is facing its first post YouTube lawsuit, they were wrong in predicting the source.
This week Perrysburg, Ohio-based Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment Corporation, the “largest stocking dealer of used tube mills and used rollformers in the world”, filed a lawsuit at the U.S. District Court last week asking YouTube Inc. to stop using its YouTube.com website. The source of the company’s complaint is simple - millions of people looking for YouTube.com are accidentally visiting UTube.com – Universal Tube’s website.
"We've had to move our site five times in an effort to stay ahead of the YouTube.com visitors," President of Universal Tube, Mr. Ralph Girkins, was quoted as saying. With web hosting costs rising catering for visitors with no interest in its products, Universal Tube’s lawsuit asks YouTube Inc. to either stop using youtube.com, or pay costs for the company creating a new domain. The company believes it has lost customers as a result of YouTube’s visitors to its site – in August alone, UTube.com received 68 million hits!
The case continues and we’ll keep you posted.
