EToys, meanwhile, wasn't even formed until 1996 and didn't establish its Web site until the fall of 1997. Etoy decided to treat the whole affair as the very kind of Web-art installation at which its artists excel. It retreated to a numerical Web address and spread the alarm about what eToys was doing. Shortly after Christmas, eToys threw in the towel. Whatever the reason for it, eToys's capitulation brought exultation from etoy.
Law still needs to catch up with the Net.
That was proved way back in 1997, when the Supreme Court eviscerated the Communications Decency Act and showed a considerable grasp of the subtleties of cyberspace in doing so. But that pedigree didn't stop it from behaving like any number of stupid companies that don't get the Web. Yes, a company has to protect its corporate reputation and be responsive to its customers' concerns. But at a certain point, it becomes disingenuous to wage legal war on behalf of customers who are too dim to tell the difference between a toy retailer's site and a Web-artist collective. As eToys' battle with etoy unfolded, angry Internet users slammed the toy retailer as a corporate Goliath.