MercExchange

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MercExchange is a technology development and on-line auction company. Their founder's name is Thomas G. Woolston.

1 Licensees
2 Issued US Patents
3 Patent dispute
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Licensees

The following companies have licensed MercExchange technology as of April 2007 [1]

AutoTrader.com
Channeladvisor
uBid
Overture
ReturnBuy

[edit] Issued US Patents

U.S. Patent 5,845,265 Consignment nodes
U.S. Patent 6,085,176 Method and apparatus for using search agents to search plurality of markets for items
U.S. Patent 6,202,051 Facilitating internet commerce through internetworked auctions
U.S. Patent 6,266,651 Facilitating electronic commerce through two-tiered electronic markets and auctions
U.S. Patent 6,856,967 Generating and navigating streaming dynamic pricing information

[edit] Patent dispute

MercExchange is currently engaged in a legal dispute over an alleged unauthorized use of one of its patents by eBay, via that auction house's "Buy It Now" feature that allow customers to bypass the normal auction procedures. In the 2003 case eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., a jury found that eBay had infringed upon MercExchange's patent and that eBay's infringement caused $35 million in damages to MercExchange, later reduced to $25 million.^[1]^[2] However, in a 2006 US Supreme Court ruling, MercExchange was found to not be automatically entitled to a court order blocking use of the technology, due to no indication that 'irreparable harm' had been suffered by the company, that the company had never actually used the invention itself and that it had been more than willing to license the technology to others.^[3]

The current legal issue is whether or not MercExchange will be able to obtain a permanent injunction. As of June 2007, eBay has stated that the company has designed a workaround so that it no longer infringes on the patent and thus an injunction is unnecessary.^[2] MercExchange has stipulated it seeks to bypass a patent office review and proceed directly with the permanent injunction, which eBay counters would hurt the company's reputation, misleading potential customers into thinking it was engaged in illegal patent infringement. U.S. District Court Judge Jerome B. Friedman has not stated when his ruling on the injunction will be handed down.