Nigerian sues Google, GoDaddy, seeks $150m for breach of contract

A Nigerian, Mr. Chianugo Peter, has filed a lawsuit in the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking $150 million in compensation from Google and GoDaddy.com.

The lawsuit relates to the alleged shutdown of its YouTube Audio domain name after eight years of promotional and marketing efforts.

Peter, represented by his attorney, Emmanuel Ekpenyong, has named GoDaddy.Com LLC and Google LLC as first and second defendants in the lawsuit, filed April 14 as FHC/ABJ/CS/238/2023.

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Plaintiff asks the court to declare that he registered the YouTube Audio trade name, initiated trademark registration for the trade name logo, and obtained the YouTubeAudio.com domain name from GoDaddy in good faith to legitimate business purposes and to attract users. to his candidacy.

He also requests a statement that since GoDaddy and Google have encouraged him to use the YouTubeAudio.com domain name for the past eight years, "they are precluded from claiming that the domain name violates any of of their trademarks or deny the applicant use of the YouTubeAudio.com domain name."

The statement further discloses that the plaintiff expects compensation for the loss of the YouTubeAudio.com brand and the goodwill it has accumulated over eight years of promotional and marketing efforts, from the 2 July 2015 to December 7, 2022.< /p>

Peter is also seeking an order compelling the defendants to pay him $50 million for his promotional and marketing work on the YouTube Audio trade name and YouTubeAudio.com domain name during the same period.

In addition, he seeks an order compelling the defendants to pay him $100 million for lost anticipated profits associated with the brand value and goodwill of YouTube Audio and the domain name YouTubeAudio.com.< /p>

According to Peter's statement, he owned YouTube Audio, also known as YTAudio, which was accessible through platforms such as Google Play Store and Apple Store in Nigeria.

In 2015, it acquired the YouTubeAudio.com and YoutubeAudio.ca domain names from GoDaddy with no indication that they infringed on the YouTube trademark or any other Google product.

Peter claims that GoDaddy confirmed the availability of the domain names and did not inform him that they were similar to YouTube or any other Google brand.

He further claims that from 2015 to April 2022, when he conducted extensive promotional and marketing activities with the domain name, Google did not dispute ownership or assert that it was similar to the domain name. YouTube brand. He even paid Google to host the YouTube Audio.com app on the Google Play Store in 2021 without any objections.

The Complainant states that YouTube Audio was duly registered as a business name with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on February 22, 2016, under the laws of Nigeria, and has consistently filed tax returns with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). .

Peter argues that after eight years of dedicated promotional and marketing efforts to make the YouTubeAudio.com domain name appealing to users and launch the app, defendants suddenly claimed it infringed the YouTube brand.

He alleges that on April 29, 2022, Google's attorney contacted him raising concerns about similarities between YouTube Audio and YouTube and suggested a settlement involving changing the company's name and domain names in "YTAudio".

Peter only agreed to a settlement if he received compensation, but instead of negotiating, GoDaddy shut down his domain, claiming it infringed on the YouTube brand. This action follows an arbitration proceeding under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.

Based on the arbitration forum decision, GoDaddy transferred the YouTubeAudio.com domain name to Google on December 7, 2022, contrary to previous assurances given to Peter.

At the hearing regarding the statement of service of the originating proceedings on the defendants, only the plaintiff's lawyer, Ekpenyong, and Google's lawyer, Mark Mordi (SAN), were present.

The trial judge, Judge Obiora Egwuatu, adjourned the case until October 11, 2023, for notice.

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