The Office of the Solicitor General of the United States has filed a brief with the Supreme Court, taking the side of MercExchange who is [a href="vny!://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060312-6364.html"]in a patent dispute with eBay over eBays "Buy It Now" feature.[/a]
Two lower courts have already upheld MercExchange's patents including finding that eBay had willfully infringed on the "Buy It Now" patent. Later this month the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments. The Office of Solicitor General is arguing eBay should be barred from using "Buy It Now" due to the decision of two lower courts that upheld MercExchange's patents. eBay is arguing that infringements should not automatically result in injunctions and shutdowns.
[hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"]The really stupid part? The patent in the story covers every single retail outlet in the world. All of them have "buy it now" prices for their merchandise. (sigh)
