B166ER - Made in Cyberspace

Universal Tube, which sells used machines that make tubes, has said it “has lost business because customers have had trouble accessing its site.” So now Utube is suing YouTube seeking a cease and desist on the youtube domain.

But this isn’t news now, at least not in internet terms - the story has reached every major technology/web2.0/news site on the (pla)net.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/02/0357210&from=rsse

http://digg.com/tech_news/Breaking_UTube_Sues_YouTube

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/02/pipes_youtube/

The readers’ reaction was the same pretty much everywhere; be it in direct responses to the news item, blogs and forums, everyone were talking about how stupid Utube is, and how it should “cash-in” on it’s traffic and free publicity. Because hey, when sites are being acquired for millions (and billions…) of dollars based solely on the amount of their monthly visitors and Alexa ranking, who the hell are Utube to say that traffic is worthless?

Who are UTube

UTube is a real company, the kind of company that depends on its revenue stream to survive, has a budget and client list, and is operating in a competitive market. Established in 1985, and led by a person with 30 years of experience in tube and pipe industry.

From the Company’s overview:

“We have one of the largest selections of used tube and pipe mills in the world. Utilizing over 125,000 square feet of warehouse space…. “

An example from their product line:

“Replacement Cost for a New Machine is approximately $1,900,000. “

The company was also smart enough to get a website early on, when most companies weren’t considering the Internet as part of their business model at all:

Domain Name: UTUBE.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Updated Date: 10-oct-2006
Creation Date: 26-oct-1996

(Youtube was registered in 2005)

But still, why not monetize the incoming traffic?

This question has been asked in many places (especially SEO and webmaster related parts of the blogosphere and forums), and the simple answer is - SMALL MONEY. Considering the amount of confused visitors (which will drop by around 90% when the lawsuit issue ends), this could probably bring in no more than 1500$ a day using the standard advertising methods. Which is less than what your local coffee shop makes, and is probably less than 1% of what UTube makes in a day. They stick to piping and don’t expand their business to the Online Advertising niche for the same reason webmasters stick to advertising and don’t expand their business to the Tube and Pipe business niche. Because it’s not their core business, and both companies and people should stick to what they know. Especially when what they don’t know brings a lot less money than what they do know.

For Dessert -the UTube Trademark

This is where things get funny, and somewhat ugly. It’s only two weeks old.

Word Mark	UTUBE
Goods and Services	IC 007. US 013 019 021 023 031 034 035. G & S: Tube and pipe mills, rollforming lines, and slitting lines. FIRST USE: 19961231. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19961231IC 037. US 100 103 106. G & S: Refurbishing of tube and pipe mills, rollforming lines, and slitting lines. FIRST USE: 19961231. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19961231
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code	(4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Design Search Code
Serial Number	77023852
Filing Date	October 18, 2006
Current Filing Basis	1A
Original Filing Basis	1A
Owner	(APPLICANT) Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment Corporation CORPORATION OHIO 26202 Glenwood Road Perrysburg OHIO 43551
Attorney of Record	Richard G. Martin
Type of Mark	TRADEMARK. SERVICE MARK
Register	PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator	LIVE

This information was taken from the USPTO.gov website - notice the date, 18 October 2006. Just 9 days after Google bought Youtube for 1.65 Billion dollars in stock.

So, bottom line is : Yes, UTube is after Google’s money.

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…Back .

Registering the B166er.com domain

The domain b166er.com was registered on April 27, 2004 through Dotster . Not that I had any special plans for it , just seemed like a nice idea to own a domain name(d ) after the one robot that just didn’t want to die, the robot that has initiated the chain reaction that brought the human race to it’s knees in the Matrix series.

Loosing the B166er.com domain

A year has passed, I haven’t done anything with the domain, but I was in a rather complex situation personally and financially, and simply forgot to renew the domain, effectively losing it to one of those domain-hoarding companies that monetize such names by putting ads and directories on the expired domain’s pages. It’s a rather big industry , fitting somewhere between typosquatting and domain parking. It my eyes, it’s a sort of legitimate Cybersquatting, they get to use the domain name after it expires, and sometimes get to cash in when someone wants to either purchase or the original owner wants to get it back from them.

Getting It Back

Time has passed, and I decided I want my domain name back. I checked the WhoIs records , and to my very pleasant surprise, the domain record was pending deletition(PendingDelete) and there was nothing on its homepage.
I wanted to make sure I get the domain as soon as it becomes available. Having no idea how to do this, I turned to what seemed like professionals, GoDaddy Inc, and place the following order:

Sounds cool, doesn’t it? DomainAlert Promonitoring, and costs a whooping 19$, more than a two-year domain registration. Not a high price to pay to get my domain back at all, and I don’t even have to waste my time on emails or negotiations, pay and forget kind of service . Too bad it didn’t work.

“This notification is generated automatically as a service to you because you subscribe to DomainAlert®.
We’re sorry, but the following domain name(s) that you backordered was not captured successfully:“

And there was no refund.

I apologize the backorder attempt has failed. Currently the backorder as submitted as requested therefore it is not eligable for a refund. You may change the backorder for another domain if you would like.

The easiest 18.99$ GoDaddy ever made.
Not giving up, I went to seek an advice on the Digital Point forums, asking if someone could point me in the right direction so I will get my domain name back. And point they did - A good man named BlitzOnline pointed me to

And they were actually having an auction for this domain name. Being taught the GoDaddy lesson, I read the not-so-small print first:

• No Up-front Cost: All fees are due on delivery. Bidding is free.
  
• Simple, Least-Cost Bidding: Set the most you are willing to pay, and our system will bid for you, entering the least amount necessary to maintain your winning status, but never more than your limit.
  
• Automatic Notification: You will be notified by email about each important event, such as auction won, auction starting, or if you are outbid.

So I went in, placed the lowest possible initial bid of 30$, and just 48 hours later and without any other interaction, received an email containing some helpful domain management information and the following notification:

Congratulations! You have successfully acquired the domain name b166er.com.

We have debited your account $30.00, the amount of your winning bid.

Fees for your first year of registration were included in the cost of your purchase.

And this is how I got the B166er.com domain name back.
Hopefully this story will help others make the right decisions when it comes to domain acquisition and backordering. And most important of all, I want to thank the Digital Point community for providing the priceless free advice.
Asking my questions earlier could have saved me 18.99$.

Useful Links : Domain Status Types, SnapNames Partners

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