eToys.com Settles Spat With Swiss Artist Group

eToys.com has settled its ongoing legal battle with a group of Swiss artists operating the etoy.com Website, but not the
way it originally intended - eToys.com has dropped its lawsuit and
will pay up to $40,000 to the Swiss group in legal fees.

As reported previously, eToys.com filed suit against etoy.com in
September, 1999, alleging the Swiss group of artists committed
trademark infringement, and exposed eToys.com customers to profane
and violent images when they access the Swiss site in error.

Initially, the case appeared to be going in eToys.com's favor, with a
Nov. 29 preliminary injunction being granted to stop the etoy.com
Website from being used.

At the time, the Los Angeles Superior Court instructed the Swiss
artist's group to take down its pages pending the outcome of the case
either way, or face up to $10,000 per day in fines.

That court decision may have cost eToys.com significant sales,
however, as it brought a tidal wave of threats of "digital riots" and
accusations of eToys.com being a Scrooge in the vital pre-Christmas sales period.

Just after Christmas, the company relented and offered to withdraw
its lawsuit to the artist's group, allowing them to start using the
toys.com Website once again.

At the time, Ken Ross, eToy's press officer, told the Washington Post
that the company had "received over the last several weeks a lot of
e-mails and letters from members of the arts community and Internet
community.

"They've overwhelmingly urged us to find a way to peacefully coexist
with the Etoy group, and we've decided to do that," he said.

Active since 1994 and now based in Zurich, etoy's multimedia
artists - who call themselves "human Net agents" - oppose the
commercialization of the Internet and devote themselves to
tweaking corporate culture.

Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com.