Frustrated with Google, Amazon may be making a YouTube competitor

So it appears Amazon was a little more angry about YouTube getting pulled from the Amazon Echo Show than it initially seemed.

On December 5, the very day that Google yanked YouTube off the Echo Show for a second time, Amazon filed two trademark requests for a seemingly rival video streaming service with the US Patent and Trademark Office, as discovered by TV Answer Man.

A little hilariously, Amazon isn't even being subtle. One of the trademark requests is for "Amazontube," while the other is for "Opentube." It's not a stretch to imagine there will be a courtroom brawl with Google if the project ever goes lives with either name.

And the service sounds quite like, ahem, another popular service. According to the description, Amazontube or Opentube would let users access "non-downloadable pre-recorded audio, visual and audiovisual works via wireless networks" and share that work with other users.

These works, as you might imagine, could come from any number of subjects, and the request describes everything from games and movies to "sports instruction" and history.

Totally tubular

Not surprisingly, Amazon also looks eager to pair the rival service with its Alexa voice assistant. DomainNameWire discovered that Amazon has recently been snatching up a lot of domain names lately such as AmazonAlexaTube.com or AmazonOpenTube.com, none of which exactly roll off the tongue.

Judging from those unwieldy domain names, the whole thing might have been a somewhat laughable, impulsive show of force. Still, there's always a chance we might see "AmazonTube" — after all, the removal of YouTube was a major blow for the device's appeal. YouTube, though, is so firmly entrenched that it seems silly to attempt to compete (and such a rivalry would no doubt hurt existing competitors such as Vimeo).

It's also possible the storm is already over. Amazon recently extended a peace offering to Google by announcing that it would start selling the Chromecast again. The problem, though, is that the device has yet to appear a week later, and it's likely that the news of Amazon's trademark requests won't do much to patch up the larger issue.