Ebay Patent Appeal to be heard by Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court today announced that it will hear Ebay's appeal in the patent litigation brought by MercExchange against EBay over the "Buy it Now" feature used in many online auctions. EBay is seeking to overturn a lower court ruling that a permanent injunction barring use of a technology must generally be issued once infringement of a valid patent has been determined. The case pits patent enforcers, like the pharmaceutical giants, against high technology innovators like EBay, Google and Yahoo! The case should be heard in March or April of next year, and looks to be an opportunity for the new Court to review a substantial body of precedent, going back to 1908. MercExchange argues that its injunction is necessary to enable its licensees, like ubid.com, to compete against EBay effectively. EBay counters that injunctive relief is inapplicable as it has already designed around the patents and is not infringing any longer even assuming that the patents are upheld and valid.