YouTube launched in February 2005, and became an overnight success, spawning numerous “tube” domain registrations.
In December 2005, a Cayman Islands company registered the domain EyeTube.com.
According to DomainTools, it appears to have maintained the domain since then, despite several WHOIS changes. Our research indicates that the domain EyeTube.com is the property of Frank Schilling’s Name Administration Inc.
An Internet Archive capture from 2011, when Internet Traffic was not open to the public, displays a generic two-click lander familiar to users of Domain Name Sales PPC templates. We can therefore assume that the generic domain EyeTube.com was parked as part of the Name Administration Inc. owned domain portfolio.
Here’s where things get very interesting.
Current content of EyeTube.com
In late 2007, a company called Bryn Mawr Communications LLC, filed for a trademark for “eyetube.”
The mark is composed of a “design plus words.” The application was for the following services:
“Education services for ophthalmic physicians only in the field of ophthalmology and eye care and featuring instruction for ophthalmic related surgical techniques and ophthalmic product demonstrations rendered through online videos “
The same company, Bryn Mawr Communications LLC, applied for a “words only” trademark in 2015, for “EYETUBE.”
The domain EyeTube.com has now been challenged via a UDRP, and it will be interesting to see how things will unfold; the timeline we presented indicates that the owners have used the domain before any mark was obtained by the Complainant.
Bryn Mawr Communications LLC operates EyeTube.net, a domain registered in December 2006.
Update: A finding of RDNH was delivered in this case, the domain stays with the Registrant: http://domainnamewire.com/2016/04/01/eyetube-reverse-domain-name-hijacker/