Not too long ago I wrote about the Ohio Universal Tube company that made actual tubes. After the news that Google was buying YouTube broke out and filtered out into the rest of the non-connected word, confused webonauts keystruck their way over to www.utube.com instead of the www.youtube.com address they should have been looking for.

A somewhat understandable mistake for the non internet-savvy. Ohio U Tube got some press for the mistake in business magazines, but now they are gearing up to sue YouTube. You see, all that attention is costing them as traffic has increased a hundred-fold.

Yes, that sounds good in theory, but the cost of keeping their website running is hampering the Ohio manufacturing company. They are also having to wade through droves of non-pertinent email and complaints that are really directed at YouTube. They also fear their brand is being destroyed, and that to remarket themselves will be expensive. Alternatively, a more cynical explanation that some will forward is that with $1.65 billion on the table, they could be among the first of many trying to line up to snatch a piece for themselves.

Ohio Universal Tube points out that they were online with that sounding name first, in 1996. I'll bet they're kicking themselves for not spending the money it would have cost to have snagged the awfully similar sounding 'youtube' to have prevented this. It offers online businesses a careful lesson, however: buy alternate versions of your name to protect your brand!