well, I don't remember the details, but just mistyped it and it reminded me of the history of
www.utube.com
this is from 2006
Quote:
YouTube's popularity is proving to be a headache for a company with a similar Web address. Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment is suing the viral video site recently acquired by Google, according to a news report on WTOL-TV in Toledo, Ohio.
The lawsuit alleges that YouTube is confusingly similar to Universal Tube's UTube.com, which sells tube, pipe and rollforming machinery. Universal Tube said its Web site traffic jumped from 1,500 users a month to more than 2 million, paralyzing the site.
"This is an enormous expense and distraction for us. Contact with our customers has been disrupted, so I fear we have lost sales," Universal Tube owner Ralph Girkins said in a statement. "We have even been contacted by police in Australia accusing us of having child pornography on our Web site. I resent this personally and this confusion is hurting our business."
The lawsuit asks that YouTube stop using the youtube.com domain name or reimburse Universal Tube for the cost of establishing a new corporate identity.
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2 years later they realized, they can just display ads/partner with a SE feed and they've been estimated to make high -6 or even 7 figs per year from that name with no effort totally legally
www.yuotube.com owners are walking on a very thin ice on the other hand, and I'm surprised google hasn't taken it from them yet...