Why UTube is suing YouTube
How much does it suck to be UTube.com? A lot, according to the company (Universal Tube and Rollform) that now gets over 2 million unique visitors a month (up from 1500) from braindead surfers looking for YouTube.com. So they're suing the video site for the bandwidth cost.
Now, before anyone suggests they just capitalize by slapping ads on their site, remember that this isn't a content site, it's a small destination for a few clients to research big deals. They can't cover it with ads, they don't need the ad money, and no one would click anyway.
And the damage is real — Universal Tube says they had to move their site five times to keep up with traffic. The crush has crippled their site, keeping real clients out.
But there are a few problems. For one, why did UTube wait until now, if not to cash in on YouTube's Google riches? And Google doesn't back down from lawsuits. And the company will be loath to reward UTube, even if it's only asking for the cost of moving its site to a different address, because this will set a precedent.
If UTube were smarter, they'd offer a deal — we'll stick a button saying "Looking for YouTube?" on our site, you pay us an undisclosed sum — instead of starting with hostile action. But by suing, these dudes probably signed themselves on to months of legal heartache with no reward.
