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February 29, 2008
Money Changes Everything
MercExchange's
patent assertion against eBay's "Buy It Now" feature resulted in a
Supreme
Court ruling that, using a four-factor test, essentially denied injunctive
relief unless the patent holder was a direct competitor to an infringer.
Thursday, eBay announced that it bought three patents from Merchange for an
undisclosed amount, including
5,845,265, the centerpiece of the matter.
Denied injunction, eBay was order to pay MercExchange $30 million in damages.
Whatever the pay off was to MercExchange, it was reportedly not large enough to ruffle eBay's profit outlook.
Posted by Patent Hawk at February 29, 2008 10:08 PM | Patents In Business