Court rules eBay violated small firm's patent
The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has found the eBay infringed the patent of MercExchange Inc. of Great Falls, Virginia and upheld a $25 million judgment against the auction giant. The court was reviewing a previous ruling by a lower court in May 2003 that stemmed from a September 2001 lawsuit by the Virginia-based company over lost licensing fees.
The court upheld a ruling that eBay's Buy It Now which allows sellers to sell at a fixed price feature infringed a MercExchange patent involving no-haggle sales. The court, however, nullified a second patent involving an online price comparison tool.
In the initial case, the lower court found eBay had infringed both patents and ordered the payment of $29.5 million in damages and licensing fees to MercExchange president Thomas Woolston. The invalidated patent, however, caused the higher court to throw out $4.5 million of the initial judgment.
eBay's Buy It Now feature accounts for about 31% of its total worldwide sales. The ruling only applies to U.S. sales, who eBay does not separately report.
The appeals court also lifted a ban preventing MercExchange from getting a permanent injunction against eBay. Woolston's attorney's plan to get a permanent injunction blocking eBay from using the Buy It Now feature and to add $100 million in damages to cover the two years since the initial judgment.
Although Woolston initially had hoped to get eBay to pay him damages and to agree to license his invention, but his lawyers say that now they are not sure he will agree to a deal with eBay "given the way they've treated him". He is currently working with Chicago-based Ubid.com and sees the ruling as a victory for inventors and small business owners. He sees this as an opportunity to "build a better, faster eBay".
In the mean time, eBay plans to continue to fight the lawsuit. eBay has asked the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to look into MercExchange's claims. The company says that the PTO has found "that substantial questions exist regarding the validity of MercExchange's claims. The Patent and Trademark office has already initially rejected all of the claims of one of MercExchange's patents".
The court upheld a ruling that eBay's Buy It Now which allows sellers to sell at a fixed price feature infringed a MercExchange patent involving no-haggle sales. The court, however, nullified a second patent involving an online price comparison tool.
In the initial case, the lower court found eBay had infringed both patents and ordered the payment of $29.5 million in damages and licensing fees to MercExchange president Thomas Woolston. The invalidated patent, however, caused the higher court to throw out $4.5 million of the initial judgment.
eBay's Buy It Now feature accounts for about 31% of its total worldwide sales. The ruling only applies to U.S. sales, who eBay does not separately report.
The appeals court also lifted a ban preventing MercExchange from getting a permanent injunction against eBay. Woolston's attorney's plan to get a permanent injunction blocking eBay from using the Buy It Now feature and to add $100 million in damages to cover the two years since the initial judgment.
Although Woolston initially had hoped to get eBay to pay him damages and to agree to license his invention, but his lawyers say that now they are not sure he will agree to a deal with eBay "given the way they've treated him". He is currently working with Chicago-based Ubid.com and sees the ruling as a victory for inventors and small business owners. He sees this as an opportunity to "build a better, faster eBay".
In the mean time, eBay plans to continue to fight the lawsuit. eBay has asked the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to look into MercExchange's claims. The company says that the PTO has found "that substantial questions exist regarding the validity of MercExchange's claims. The Patent and Trademark office has already initially rejected all of the claims of one of MercExchange's patents".
posted by Chatbots AI at 10:21 AM
4 Comments:
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