ebay may need to change practices soon

nwcs

ABC news link about ebay

Russ

Prediction: eBay will hand him a few bucks, and he'll slink off in to the night.

Russ, NCNE

Rampage

In my opinion, based on what eBay stated in that article, they know they did wrong and will have to pay through the nose. eBay has a great thing going. They should pay the person and even thank him for his wisdom.

presleyh

Patents are almost impossible to defend. Even if it goes to court it will take 10 years to wind its way through the federal court system. The guy who invented the push button on the back of craftsman rachets lives here in chattanooga has been fighting sears for over 20 years on that one. He won 15 years ago but still hasnt received any money. I wouldnt bet on an early resolution on this one either.

Russ

Rampage,

eBay didn't "state" anything in the article. The author simply quoted some standard boiler plate language from an SEC filing.

Russ, NCNE

robertpr

I was going to say that too, but Russ beat me to it. The "bombshell quote" is basically a fill in the blank paragraph required in SEC documents which really is a straightforward statement of potential dangers to their business. Regardless of how remote the possibility is that the specific danger (in this case, lawsuit) is to the business, they are required to include it.

Conder101

Hmm, Buy it Now! infringes on his patent. Bid or buy auctions where you can bid or go ahead a immediately purchase the item at a fixed price date back at least two or three decades and his patent is from 1995. Color me skeptical.

nwcs

To me it is a similar issue to the person who claimed they invented hyperlinks, the person who claimed they invented one-click purchasing, the company that claims they own jpeg, etc.

baccaruda

wow, he invented BIN. i figured BIN must have have been invented by a team of international geniuses, working around the clock for 20 years. who would have thought that BIN could possibly be the work of one man? oh the brilliant, beautiful mind that could fathom something as innovative and complex as BIN. the world is a much better place because of him. and all he wants for such an earth-shattering idea is tens of millions?

baccaruda

maybe i'll patent breathing and then charge everyone a royalty who does it. does anyone own such a patent yet?

Russ

When I was a kid I used to sit in front of the TV and think about how nice it would be if I had a little plastic device with buttons so I wouldn't have to get off my ass to change channels. I think I may have mentioned this idea to an RCA Engineer. HMM...

Russ, NCNE

truthteller

I remember a case of an inventor who invented the automobile windshield wiper control switch. He battled for 20 some years and finally beat GM to the tune of several hundred million dollars, which was calculated at 4 cents a unit. With that victory, the inventor aimed his cannons at Toyota, who settled quietly with him. I think the other car manufacturers soon came around and settled also. Goes to show you, if you invent something, someone is going to steal it anyway.

TRUTH