Judge Permits eBay's "Buy It Now" Feature

stalebread points to a Reuters story reporting that a federal judge refused to issue an injunction against eBay's "Buy It Now" feature. Quoting: "Judge Jerome B. Friedman of Federal District Court denied a motion by the Virginia company, MercExchange, for a permanent injunction to stop eBay from using the feature. The Supreme Court ruled last year that, although eBay infringed upon MercExchange's patent for the service, it was up to the lower court to decide whether eBay had to stop using it. 'MercExchange has utilized its patents as a sword to extract money rather than as a shield to protect its right to exclude or its market share, reputation, good will, or name recognition, as MercExchange appears to possess none of these,' he wrote."

Ouch!

[deftcoder]

'MercExchange has utilized its patents as a sword to extract money rather than as a shield to protect its right to exclude or its market share, reputation, good will, or name recognition, as MercExchange appears to possess none of these,' he wrote.

Ouch!

OMG Sanity !!

[Romwell]

Aaa ! Something is going wrong =)

as MercExchange appears to possess none of these..

[Anonymous Coward]

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Merc.

Merc Who?

MercExchange.

MercExchange Who?

I know, I know, don't let the door hit me on the way out.

Oh yes

[wamerocity]

Boy, I remember the good ole' days when the Old Fashioned American Lottery used to be as simple as being a lawyer and waiting in the emergency room to find people that were hurt in accidents.

We have become so much more complicated these days, where now we take simple ideas that are difficult to work around like using the letter "i" or the "click" and suing people that use them for large amounts of money.

Oblig. Hide and Creep

[Anonymous Coward]

Waitress: And to drink?
Chuck: Coke
Waitress: Pepsi okay?
Chuck: Pepsi. Is Pepsi okay? No. No, my dear lady, Pepsi is not okay. Look, I don't mean to be rude here but let me school you on something. See, Pepsi, this so-called choice of a new generation, is nothing but a charlatan, a fraud, an imposter. See, the Pepsi corporation, through years of slick advertising using glitzy popstars and pseudo-scientific research, have somehow conviced the public that their product is as good as, if not better than, Coke. Coke, however, is the original cola based carbonated beverage. The original real thing. That is what I want.
Waitress: All we have is Pepsi.
Chuck: You know, I've been somewhere else where they don't let you decide what you want to drink: Red China.

eBay's true response to the ruling?

[Anonymous Coward]

Great court, fast ruling, judge RECOMMENDED A+++++++

It's really a damn shame

[wamerocity]

that people like this have continued to ruin this market.

Somehow, somewhere, patent trolls have lost their way. They seem to have forgotten what trolling means, what stifling innovation meant, what shitting-on-the-little guy was all about. It's not just about making a patent that you can sue and make money offer, and about sticking it to every one else who found a way to actually make that profitable...

I swear, it's really a damn shame...

The article is obviously fake..

[Brickwall]

Common sense and judicial decisions regarding patent trolls are like matter and anti-matter; they can't exist in the same universe.

Re:eBay's true response to the ruling?

[labnet]

Highly recommended /. comment. Best Ever. WOULD MOD FUNNY A++++.