Amazon has filed for AmazonTube trademark as fight with YouTube gets pettier

Amazon applied for an “AmazonTube” trademark earlier this week, according to a filing found by TV Answer Man, as the company’s public feud with Google over accessing YouTube content on Amazon’s devices continues to escalate.

While there’s not a lot of information about what AmazonTube might be, based on the trademark application’s description of “providing non-downloadable pre-recorded audio, visual and audiovisual works via wireless networks on a variety of topics of general interest,” it sure sounds like a YouTube competitor.

TechCrunch notes that Amazon has also applied for a trademark on “OpenTube”, as well, which, if anything, is a more blatant name for what Google is looking to accomplish here. It’s also not the first time that Amazon has been rumored to be working on its own, free video service — earlier this year there were rumors that Amazon was planning a “freemium” version of Prime Video, although the company released a statement saying that it had no plans to do so.

To recap, this whole mess started back when Google abruptly pulled support for YouTube from Amazon’s Echo Show device, citing violations of its terms of service. YouTube was restored nearly two months later with an overhauled UI that more closely resembled YouTube’s web interface, before getting pulled again a few weeks ago, with Google this time calling out the fact that Amazon refused to sell Google products like Chromecast, Google Home, and Nest devices and the lack of Prime Video support for Google cast. Google then took things a step further, adding warnings to the YouTube app on Amazon’s Fire TV streaming devices that the service would no longer be available starting January 1st. Since then, Amazon has resumed selling Chromecasts, and Amazon and Google are in “productive talks” about keeping access on the Fire TV, but as of today YouTube remains unavailable on the Echo Show and Echo Spot.