Since 1995, Thomas Woolston of MercExchange has obtained four patents, has ten more pending, and has sued for patent infringement at least twice. The eBay case is by far the biggest, however.
EBay recently admitted in a financial statement that if it loses the case it "might be forced to pay significant damages and licensing fees, modify our business practices or even be enjoined from conducting a significant part of our US business."
Patents for business ideas, as opposed to physical inventions, are controversial. They have been around in the US since 1998 when the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided that a business method is not an "abstract idea" but an idea that leads to the transformation of intangible or tangible material, with a practical and useful result, a result that is patentable. European patent offices tend to reject such applications.
The eBay case seems to hinge on e-mail messages allegedly sent in 2000 by the company to Woolston. These apparently indicate the company's interest in purchasing the patents and show that eBay had knowledge of the patents and carried on nonetheless.
EBay vigorously denes the accusations. Kevin Pursglove, spokesman for the auction giant, told News.com on Monday, "We remain quite confident in our position and look forward to presenting our case to the judge and the jury."