Syndicate: [rohrpost] European art group files suit in U.S against eToys

[Inke Arns <inke@snafu.de>]

Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 01:51:12 +0100
From: "Reinhold Grether" <rgrether@netzwissenschaft.de>
Subject: [rohrpost] European art group files suit in U.S against eToys

[please distribute as far as possible]

European art group files suit in U.S against eToys
By Alice Ratcliffe (Reuters)

ZURICH, Jan 25 (Reuters) - A European Internet artists group called etoy --
with all lower-case letters -- said on Thursday it has filed a complaint in
a U.S. court against online toy retailer eToys Inc. <ETYS.O>alleging
trademark infringement. 

The action, filed in the U.S. District Court of Southern California in San
Diego, is the latest shot fired between etoy, an international artist's
collective whose medium is the Internet, and the U.S.-based online toy
retailer. etoy insists eToys Inc., which uses a capital T and ends its name
in an s, has muscled in onto the collective's turf on the Internet. The
retailer actually succeeded in shutting down the artist group's site during
the 1999 holiday shopping season. 

The complaint, a copy of which was made available to Reuters, alleges
eToys, with its similar name, has used a close imitation of the registered
'etoy' mark to sell its products and advertise its services on the Internet. 

"Such use is likely to cause consumer confusion, mistake or deception and
infringes on etoy Corporation's rights in its registered trademark 'etoy',"
said the complaint by the artists' group, whose motto is "leaving reality
behind." 

Etoy is also seeking to gain control of eToys' domain name. 

Etoy, which may be the world's only artists' collective with a business
plan, alleges that because it was around before eToys, the toy retailer
should not be allowed to use a similar name that could be confused with its
own. 

"Etoy Corp was actively on-line and winning international awards for its
work in 1996 before eToys, Inc. was even formed," the complaint alleges. 

Etoy's lawyer Chris Truax, who filed the complaint on Wednesday, told
Reuters in a telephone interview that "etoy is essentially staking out
their territory for everyone
to see." Truax, who specialises in intellectual property law, called it a
"defensive move. It is not a question of revenge. It is a question of
closure," Truax said. 

The suit breaks a cease-fire which followed what is known in Internet lore
as the "Toywar." In 1999 the retailer briefly succeeded in shutting down
the etoy artists' Web site, arguing that its customers might be offended by
the site, which contained what the retailer called profane language and
pornography. 

The artists group currently features moving cargo containers on its Web
site www.etoy.com. 

After the site was shut down, etoy supporters rallied to the artists'
defense, threatening to block the Web retailer's site by bombarding it with
bogus orders. 

The battle ended in a sort of truce between the artists and the toy
retailer. The latest lawsuit breaks that truce, and etoy's filing of legal
opposition to eToys trademark registration with the U.S. patent office on
Jan. 10. 

An artist who calls himself etoy.ZAI, spokesman and "Chief Executive" of
the artists' group based in Zurich, said it had "tried to deal with eToys
for several months" to no avail before breaking the truce. "We have to
resolve this problem once and for all," he told Reuters. 

The online retailer is now retrenching its business, with its shares only a
fraction of their former value. The shares closed at 5/32 on Thursday, down
1/32 or 9 percent on the day, and sharply below their high of $86 in
October 1999. 

A spokesman for the retailer in California said the company had no comment
about the lawsuit. 

NOT A QUESTION OF REVENGE, BUT ONE OF "CLOSURE" 

Despite worries about similar names, in the real world it is hard to
confuse etoy, whose members sport weird neon orange garb and issue
directives in a neo-business jargon, with employees for a retail company. 

The artist group's backers include Japanese venture capitalist Joichi Ito,
who is also one of the group's "shareholders." Although the shares are not
listed on any public exchange and are not backed by any tangible assets,
the collective "went public" in 1998. Among its other investors were former
Austrian Chancellor Viktor Klima, who bought the ceremonial first share. 

Truax, asked if the filing could be considered as a serious case of
corporate trademark infringment, believes it should. 

"This is a 100 percent, serious lawsuit. Etoy is a real entity, and is
highly respected internationally," said Truax.  

"They are a real corporation. They are just providing a different product
than most corporations. The people participating in it certainly seem to be
getting their money's worth. They are getting their entertainment quota,"
he said.

http://www.moneynet.com/content/MONEYNET/News/NewsStory.asp?Symbol=ETYS&ID=S
F-01/25-AnL25145157@NEWS-P2&Index=0&HeadlineURL=../News/NewsHeadlines.asp&DI
SABLE_FORM=&NAVSVC=News\Company
___
http://www.etoy.com/tmlawsuit2001/

etoy Corp. Sues eToys Inc. For Trademark Infringement
http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?T=marketsquote99_news.ht&s=AOnCG3xMHZXR
veSBD

eToys Reports Fiscal Third Quarter Financial Results
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010125/ca_etoys_i.html 



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