EBay to pay $29.5 million in patent case

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A federal judge Wednesday ordered online auction house eBay Inc. to pay $29.5 million to a Virginia inventor who accused the company of stealing his ideas.
But U.S. district judge Jerome B. Friedman said he would not require the Internet giant to abandon the disputed technology in the case, saying lawyers for plaintiff Thomas G. Woolston failed to show that he would suffer irreparable harm if the court did not issue an injunction.

Friedman warned eBay that if infringing on Woolston's patents continued, he would be "more inclined to award enhanced damages for any post-verdict infringement."

A Norfolk federal jury decided in May that eBay willfully infringed on Woolston's patents, which presented a way for people to purchase items over the Internet for a fixed price. Specifically, the jury said that eBay's "Buy It Now" option, which allows auction surfers to do the same thing, infringed on Woolston's ideas.


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