Where would we be without these important patents?

From
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR2006031001918.html
"Government Sides Against EBay in Patent Dispute," _Washington Post_, 2006
Mar 11:

"The Office of the Solicitor General said in a brief filed with the Supreme
Court that eBay willfully infringed on patents held by Great Falls-based
MercExchange LLC and should be enjoined from using its 'Buy It Now' feature,
which allows users to buy goods at fixed prices rather than compete in
auctions. Goods sold using that system account for about a third of eBay's
business."

There's absolutely no way a method like "Buy It Now" would have been
developed without the prospect of patent protection.

LMAO...


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Not so dead, *dead*, DEAD!
    ... getting their day in court, and exercising their right to due process. ... >>the patents invalid... ... > court has decided to not enforce them. ... that's fully orthogonal to a patent being declared invalid. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips)
  • Re: Pinball Patents & Copyrights - Lets take this head on
    ... unless they are the opinions of the court. ... My opinion is that Dotty would fall flat in court. ... On the issue of cabinet remakes, ... There was the playfield slide and a number of other patents. ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: Not so dead, *dead*, DEAD!
    ... If you can't see how badly the eliminations reflect on Rambus' case here ... >>>the patents invalid... ... >> court has decided to not enforce them. ... that's fully orthogonal to a patent being declared invalid. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips)
  • Re: OT Dish DVR
    ... built DVRs using Linux boxes? ... If it was indeed one of those broad software patents that cover ... they will prevail in court based on the harsh nature of the rulings. ...
    (rec.outdoors.rv-travel)
  • Re: why Microsoft really opposes Open Source
    ... > I would love to see it get to a court. ... The patents are clearly illegal ... doesn't need filesystem interoperability.) ... > FAT, FAT32, NTFS support from linux just to be rid of the hassle? ...
    (comp.programming)