RSSUS Gov't Supports 'Buy it Now' Patent
By the Betanews Staff | Published March 13, 2006, 5:16 PM
The United States federal government sided with MercExchange on Monday, saying that auction site eBay knowingly infringed on the company's patents. The Office of the Solicitor General said in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that eBay should be barred from using the popular "Buy it Now" feature, which accounts for a third of the site's sales.
eBay has argued, however, that MercExchange shut down its online business in 2000, and should not be allowed to use the patent to stop an active business. eBay had been found guilty of infringing two patents by a district court. An appeals court overturned that decision, which brought the case to the nation's highest court. The justices will hear arguments from both sides in hearings later this month.
sick of these..
just looking for free money...
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|OK, this is rediuculous, the comapany is out of business, therefore patents should be null and void.
On the other hand, if its not their feature, they should quit using it..
This will be tough to figure out. I still think Ebay should be allowed to keep it. "but it now" isn't exactly a unique idea..
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|I can't believe that they are wasting the governments time with a dumb court case about "buy it now".
What total idiots. Of all the things to worry about in the world freaking "buy it now" is not one that should even be in the top 1000 things to worry about.
Stupid suits.
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|Are you ignorant? eBay isn't the one doing suing over this. They are the ones being sued!
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|I didn't mean to say ebay, I just meant to say that the fact that anyone is in court about this is retarded.
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|I can't believe they haven't done anything about all these moronic eBay sellers fixing their shipping costs to more than what it really should be. Someone selling hundreds of items are getting a pretty penny from their jacked shipping costs. I think all shipping should be payed by the seller.
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|WTF, are you a moron? If you sell items, then they would artificially jackup prices then, and include shipping. By breaking them out, you can see exactly what they cost.
I can't believe how lame you are, if you ship to CA vs NY, and you live in NC, it will be cheaper to ship to NY. You want to sellers to pay ALL shipping regardless of where you are located?
Its obvious you never sold anything, because you are an idiot. You can't ship an item for free, you bonehead, it COSTS money to ship. UPS doesn't ship for free, why should sellers eat the shipping cost?
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|i think he ment the fact that sellers charge like $30 to ship like a hard drive and stuff, and i see his point. but i think his idea is moronic.
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|Have you compared what it costs to ship something through Ebay / Paypal as compared to driving it to your local UPS store or using your own account?
If they cracked down on Users Gouging for shipping, they wouldn't be able to do it themselves.
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|Before you guys go clowning on the whole patent thing, try reading up on the history of the case.. Its been going on for several years now, and it started when eBay approached MercExchange about *buying* MercExchange's patent portfolio several years ago, but then backed out.. eBay had been using 3 of 4 of MercExchange's patents.. eBay already HAD a judgement issued against it from this case about 3 years ago, and has been appealing it.
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|WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The makers of the world-reknowned perfume, "Chanel No 5" have filed suit in federal court against the broadcast television station Channel 5 for patent infringement.
Among other things, the suit claims damages based on the fact that, "People have been smelling for thousands of years prior to the development of television" and therefore Channel 5 TV is guilty of patent infrigenment against Chanel No 5.
When asked to comment, the president of Channel 5 TV replied, "This stinks" and his lawyer's only comment was, "I smell a rat".
However, executives at Chanel No. 5 were not amused, claiming that the essence of the case centered on serious patent issues.
The trial is expected to take place in the city of Cologne sometime next month.
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|>>>eBay has argued, however, that MercExchange shut down its online business in 2000, and should not be allowed to use the patent to stop an active business.>>>
Alot of the current patent fights going on at the moment are complete jokes, but if this is the only way you argue you side, just give. Based on that logic, you could also say since they stopped printing your favorite novel, the copy-right should be given up too.
I am hoping that google has more then "There out of business, so no patent rights for them"
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|Hey.. I'm going to sue everyone who uses the term, "Sup".
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|you can't, I already patented it.
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|This whole thing is stupid. What's next, is someone going to sue because they patented clicking the mouse button?
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|im pretty sure microsoft already patented the double click.
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|lol, they did actually :P ...
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|... and the Center Edition`s "pause" button when you`re recording tv streaming. Huuuuhh!!, this is absurdity!!
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|MS did try to patent the word "Windows", but it failed, because its too close to the physical device of the same name.
But another company Lindows tried to take advantage, and MS did sue them, because their name was too close to the trademark name Windows.
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|What's at issue here isn't the fact that its called "buy it now" but the underlying usefulness of that feature that Ebay did NOT design.
Calling something "buy it now" isn't the suit, its the way Buy it now works, that's what the other company is suing for. I have a problem with a defunct company trying to profit from a business, when they are no longer in oompetition.
Suing because its affecting business is one thing, but sitting on your a** and collecting a paycheck, because you want a buck everytime Ebay uses a feature you have no intention of utilizing, is absurd.
I can see it, if you owned a process, but they are going after Ebay because they know they make millions a day, and they want a piece of the action. This would be a non-issue if Ebay were a very small company.
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|You shouldn't be able to patent such a generic and obvious concept as being able to buy something right away. It's not like it's some grand new idea that no one ever could have imagined. This is just a stupid money grab from some company that went out of business.
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|I'm going to pattent the method of responding to a post...you're all going to owe me money.
What a bunch of stupid BULLCRAP!!!!!
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