Temporary Injunction a Click for Amazon

Amazon.com Inc. won a federal court order temporarily barring rival Barnesandnoble.com Inc. from using technology that allows shoppers to make purchases with one click of a computer mouse.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman’s preliminary injunction, issued late Wednesday, stops Barnesandnoble.com from using its Express Lane One Click Ordering while a patent infringement suit is pending.

Amazon.com said it obtained a patent Sept. 28 for the 1-Click technology, which stores customers’ mailing and billing information so repeat buyers don’t have to reenter the information when ordering merchandise.

Barnesandnoble.com said the patent is for technology that is widely used and it will appeal the judge’s ruling. It plans to introduce its new Express Checkout service in the next several days to meet the holiday rush.

The service, an improved version scheduled to be released after the holidays, will be in compliance with Pechman’s order, a spokesman for New York-based Barnesandnoble.com said.

The company said it doesn’t expect sales to be affected by the ruling. Barnes & Noble Inc., the world’s largest bookseller, and German publisher Bertelsmann each own 41% of Barnesandnoble.com.

Shares of Amazon.com rose $4.06 to close at $89.06, while Barnesandnoble.com fell 38 cents to close at $19, both on Nasdaq.

Amazon.com spokesman Bill Curry said Amazon will be checking Barnesandnoble.com’s site Saturday morning, when the switch in services is to occur.

Seattle-based Amazon.com filed its suit in October, a week after another Internet business, Priceline.com, sued Microsoft Corp. on charges of violating a software patent that lets consumers bid for plane tickets and hotel rooms on the Web.

Patent experts say this is the beginning of a wave of such lawsuits prompted by a court ruling that said methods of doing business could be patented.