This is something I have been alittle concerned about...
art.net is not trademarked.
artnet I think is... or at least is Registered by someone
else.
It's all a mess really, the DNS stuff...
I am hoping that a good technical solution will come along and
help solve such problems like mutilple roots serving different
realities or slices of the Internet where people can choose which
one they want to see.
I think that the real problem stems from the trademark laws.
The Internet DNS system was never ment to support them... yet
the courts do and they enforce those laws on people who
operate on the Internet.
I have really felt for etoy.com and have even toyed with the
idea of offering them "etoy.art.net" but I don't think that will
solve the problem. I do feel that by their fighting this battle,
they are making headway for all of us so supporting them is a
good thing.
This type of problem really needs to be solved by the
engineers who have built the Internet (ietf.org) but
they dislike getting into the fray of such political issues.
There is a really good writeup by a friend of mine who is
involved with the IETF... who also beleaves that multiple root
systems can co-exist on the Internet. See:
http://cavebear.com/cavebear/growl/
The second article talks about this... which is:
2. Multiple Roots are "a good thing"
If someone came after art.net, we would fight though... I know
enough people who would help us fight to. So not to worry.
-lile
(a webmaster@art.net)