YouTube’s acquisition by Google $1.65 billion appears to have made it an appealing target for lawsuits. Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, whose site is Utube.com, is suing YouTube, according to a news report on WTOL-TV in Toledo, Ohio.

The lawsuit alleges that YouTube.com is confusingly similar to Universal Tubes’ 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.

Alexa’s traffic graph for the site shows a huge spike in the last month:

“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.

via CNET News