A small Virginia based patent holder, Thomas Woolston and his company MercExchange accused eBay, the popular Web-based marketplace, of stealing its idea for selling goods in cyberspace.
MercExchange says it came up with the idea of using an electronic network of consignment stores that would ensure legitimacy of sales by taking possession of goods being offered.
A jury has already sided with MercExchange, finding that its business method patents had been infringed upon and awarded MercExchange $35 million.
A trial judge later reduced the award by $5.5 million and refused to grant a permanent injunction, ruling that MercExchange would not suffer because it had not used its inventions commercially and had expressed an interest in licensing its patents to eBay.
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