eBay could face patent infringement charges for the design of it's online auction system:
MercExchange founder Thomas Woolston, an inventor and patent attorney who has been granted four online auction-related patents since 1998 and has some 10 others pending, said he sued eBay in 2001 after negotiations broke down over the auction site's offer to purchase his patents.
The company first contacted Woolston in 2000 with an interest in buying the patents. E-mail to that effect is expected to figure prominently in the case because it indicates that eBay knew about Woolston's patents but continued to infringe them, he said.
C|Net is covering the story and has more information on the patents and the possible settlement situations. Check
here.
Source: Slashdot.org
