Etoy sounds
ready to give up its earlier demand for an apology, however.
"Big corporations don't apologize, but what we're
discussing is fixing the mess they made," said Chris Truax,
etoy's key lawyer these days. "You don't sue someone, drop the
suit, and then turn around and pay the legal fees without
admitting they shouldn't have filed it in the first place.
We're going to put everything back where it was before."
Not that the story ends there. Unlike battles fought in
newspapers or on TV, which disappear once the media loses
interest in them, those waged on the Internet will be around
for awhile. Anyone doing a search for "etoy" or "etoys" will
find plenty to read -- much of it unflattering to eToys.
Whether the whole thing was merely a "cause celebre," as it
was characterized by The New York Times, or a
critical fight to determine who eventually controls the
Internet remains to be seen.
Most online advocates consider the Times view
to be condescending. As highly visible etoy supporter John
Perry Barlow put it: "I think there was a tone of 'Look what
the woolly-headed Internet freaks have gotten themselves into
now.'"
Whatever the perception, some lessons might have been
learned.
Other companies, for example, will notice that eToys, as
wealthy a company as it is, decided to back down rather than
fight, even though it meant publicly admitting defeat.
"Maybe," Truax said, "it will make the next big corporation
think twice before they try something like this."
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