Ebay BIN ???

[Czyotto]

I found this in today bus section of the Chicago Tribune.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...ck=1&cset=true

[slotter]

This paper requires registration. To read the original article, bugmenot.com (a handy link, btw, to read stuff and not get a bunch of spam) gives the following logon:

privacy1st@mailinator.com
Password:tribune

Article below to read:

EBay's fast-sale feature at risk
Court affirms patent ruling on `buy it now'

By Chris Gaither
Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
Published March 21, 2005


EBay Inc.'s U.S. site could be forced to abandon its popular "buy it now" feature--which accounts for nearly a third of the value of goods sold by the online auctioneer--as a result of a recent court ruling.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Virginia last week upheld a key element of a patent infringement case brought against eBay by MercExchange and said a lower court was wrong to deny a permanent injunction against the online auction giant.

EBay stock ended the week at $35.01, off $2.06 from its close Tuesday, the day before the decision was handed down.

Scott Kessler, Internet equity analyst with Standard & Poor's, said investors underestimated the potential threat the ruling poses to the company's business.

"There are very far-ranging implications," he said.

After throwing out a $4.5 million judgment against eBay regarding comparison-shopping technology on Wednesday, the federal court upheld a ruling that ordered eBay to pay $25 million for infringing upon the no-haggle pricing feature from September 2001 to April 2003.

An attorney for plaintiff Thomas Woolston, president of Great Falls, Va.-based MercExchange, said he would ask the lower court as soon as next month to tack on more than $100 million to cover the nearly two years since then.

MercExchange attorney Scott Robertson also said he planned to ask the court to compel eBay to stop using the infringing technology.

Unlike the auctions eBay built its business on, the "buy it now" feature lets buyers snap up items immediately for a fixed price. Last year, eBay sold $3 billion in merchandise that way, or 31 percent of its global total. The court ruling applies only to the U.S. sales, which eBay does not break out in financial statements.

"The basis on which the patent holder is going back to court is quite strong," said David Garrity, an analyst with Caris & Co.

The judge will have discretion in framing the injunction, however, and is not obligated to order eBay to abandon the feature, he said.

EBay said in a news release that any injunction would have no effect because it changed its fixed-price system after the court's original verdict in 2003.

But in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, eBay said that if it fails to convince the lower court that those changes aren't infringing, the company "would likely be forced to pay significant damages and licensing fees or modify our business practices in an adverse manner."

Woolston has not decided whether to sell a license to eBay, Robertson said.

[Czyotto]

Slotter I did not know that. So I guess I am registered.

Thanks for updating that post.

[logicprobe]

Wow... a patent on buying something NOW.

Maybe we'll be having auctions for bread and milk down at the 7-11 soon.

[slotter]

Wow... a patent on buying something NOW.

Maybe we'll be having auctions for bread and milk down at the 7-11 soon.

Back to the ol' "barter" society, eh?

[luckydog]

all they would have to do is change it to "get it now"

[ZCore13]

It's not the term, it's the technology they stole. They then changed their technology after the lawsuit in 2003, which they lost. But the original company "MercExchange" doesn't think they changed it enough to satisfy the infringment.