Etoys.com vs. etoy domain war ends with Etoys.com's demise
Misc.
2/6/2001; 5:09:10 PM

The linked Wired article merely chronicles Etoys.com's demise, it says nothing about this connection.

Etoys.com is, or rather was, the quintessential arrogant dot-com company. At the height of its arc, flush with funds, ego, and momentum, Etoys.com sued the artistic group etoy.com, which predated Etoys.com's existance by several years, for trademark infringement. To put it simply, etoy.com did not simply take it on the chin... instead they fought back. How they did so is a fascinating tale.

I won't go so far as to agree with etoy.com that they played a significant role in Etoys.com's demise; given the dot-com climate, it seems likely they'd be dying either way. I do think that we can take a personal lesson away from this, though: Hubris can only carry you in the short term, but it takes more then lots of money and a healthy dollop of arrogance to keep going in the long term, no matter what your endeavor.