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Judge Permits eBay's "Buy It Now" Feature

Posted by kdawson on from the there's-still-that-25-mil dept.

stalebread points to a Reuters story reporting that a federal judge refused to issue an injunction against eBay's "Buy It Now" feature. Quoting: "Judge Jerome B. Friedman of Federal District Court denied a motion by the Virginia company, MercExchange, for a permanent injunction to stop eBay from using the feature. The Supreme Court ruled last year that, although eBay infringed upon MercExchange's patent for the service, it was up to the lower court to decide whether eBay had to stop using it. 'MercExchange has utilized its patents as a sword to extract money rather than as a shield to protect its right to exclude or its market share, reputation, good will, or name recognition, as MercExchange appears to possess none of these,' he wrote."

4 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Link by mazzanet · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A link to the article may be useful :)

  2. as MercExchange appears to possess none of these.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Knock Knock

    Who's there?

    Merc.

    Merc Who?

    MercExchange.

    MercExchange Who?

    I know, I know, don't let the door hit me on the way out.

  3. Re:This is horrible news... seriously by BitZtream · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Really, in this case, it just allows everyone to use something that shouldn't be patentable.

    Its as if no one could sale a cola drink because Coke patented the idea of cola. Coke can't patent cola. They can do trademarking, copyrights, patent the formula, ect... but if someone comes along and makes a product like it, its fine and dandy, and good for me cause I like Pepsi better.

    --
    Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
  4. eBay's true response to the ruling? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great court, fast ruling, judge RECOMMENDED A+++++++