Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment is getting
mighty angry these days with all the hype over Google acquiring YouTube. Why, you ask? Well, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment's web site is at Utube.com, and it seems that they get hit with over 2 million people each month now, mistyping YouTube's URL. So what else comes with the increase from 1500 users a month to 2 million? Crashed servers, and calls from the police about child porn on their web site! Wow! This must be coming as a shock to the Ohio equipment company. Anyway, the lawsuit is asking YouTube to stop using the YouTube.com domain name, or pay Universal's rebranding. As if Google is going to give that domain up. I could see Google just buying Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment to get the Utube.com domain, and all of the traffic they're missing out on! Then they could develop some extra strong, high speed data pipe roll things for networks to search Google or something.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Simon said 8:32AM on 11-02-2006
Made my day! Best article this week! :)
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Eleventeen said 8:44AM on 11-02-2006
The internet is a series of tubes...
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Ramzes said 8:49AM on 11-02-2006
It completely agree!
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Jim said 10:52PM on 11-02-2006
This one's simple. Use Utube.com as a tiny website only a couple kilobytes in size that asks you which of the 2 sites you wanted to go to. Exactly like http://www.Firefox.com
Have YouTube pay the hosting fees for it too. I don't know anything about fees associated, but I would imagine it's only pennies in proportion to YouTube's total wealth.
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asurroca said 8:52AM on 11-02-2006
I'm surprised Google hasn't already bought them out. I mean, if they're going to keep lighting up all that dark fiber and making their own Google Internet, they're going to need A LOT of tubes!
I'd just pay for their re-branding, in exchange for the utube.com domain if I were Google. Sounds like a fair price to pay for a potentially hot domain, no?
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adam said 10:01AM on 11-02-2006
asurroca -
I completely agree, if I were 'the' Google, I wouldnt think twice about obtaining utube.com. I mean how much could it cost to rebrand a relatively local company, 2 million, 4 million? Or better yet, why not get into the tubing business as well, start expanding out, maybe get into plumbing, then merge into the real estate business as well. I can see it now, Google Homes. Oh lord, when will it ever end !
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Chris Gilmer said 10:03AM on 11-02-2006
Seriously though, one day the internet might not be around anymore! sniff sniff.. so it could be a goog idea for Google and shareholders to start thinking about more offline ventures. This is a perfect start.
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Jason McMinn said 12:39PM on 11-02-2006
YouTube approach uTube and offered to buy their domain name for $1 million and uTube rejected it. I don't feel sorry for them.
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Virion said 1:27PM on 11-02-2006
McMinn:
Well, technically UTube was 'there first', so I can see that they'd be somewhat attached to the name. Also, maybe $1 million won't cover the rebranding costs, if they produce a large assortment of products they'd have to change all packaging to correct the site, toss any leftover packaging at a loss, and change marketing materials that may have been used in B2B publications and trade conventions. The article also mentions the site's use as a customer portal, so those 1500 hits a month, though not large in visitor statistics, could potentially be a good portion of customers that order and manage stock through the website. This downtime could be costing them more in the long run than the money offered for the domain would cover.
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Deano said 2:49PM on 11-03-2006
Hmmm, tough one. I reckon Google's lawyers will eat utubes for breakfast.
Jim's suggestion is probably the sanest solution to these idiots who don't realise how the correct spelling of the site they're after. A quick google would lead them right there.
I wonder, are the owners of ewetube.com suffering as well?
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mmmork said 4:07PM on 11-03-2006
Classic plaintifs lawyer move. Or 'blackmail' as it used to be called. I bet they were lining up at utubes door particularly after moneybags google bought youtube.
They're looking for a big cheque plain & simple. They DO deserve something if their server gets getting taken down, but this is a bit pathetic IMO.
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