Toledo (Ohio), Nov. 2 (AP): A company that shut down its website because it was overwhelmed by millions of people looking for YouTube has sued the online video-sharing portal.

Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment Corp. said the cost of hosting its website — www.utube.com — has grown significantly in the last two months. “We’ve had to move our site five times in an effort to stay ahead of the www.youtube.com visitors,” said Ralph Girkins, Universal Tube’s president. The lawsuit, filed this week in a US court, asks that YouTube Inc. stop using the youtube.com or pay Universal Tube’s cost for creating a new domain.

The confusion took off a couple of months ago, Girkins said. The company, with just 17 employees, got 68 million hits on its site in August, making it one of the most popular manufacturing websites.

The site shut down in early October just before Google Inc. announced plans to buy YouTube for $1.65 billion. It took several days before it was back up. A YouTube spokeswoman did not return a message seeking comment.