Damages Reduced in Case Against EBay
From Bloomberg News
EBay Inc. lost a bid to overturn a jury finding that it infringed a Virginia company’s patents for conducting sales over the Internet. The federal judge, however, reduced the amount it would have to pay in damages to $29.5 million.
MercExchange of Great Falls, Va., claimed that EBay and its Half.com unit infringed patents for the technology. The dispute centered on EBay’s “fixed price” sales.
A jury in May told the online auction company to pay $35 million. U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Friedman in Norfolk, Va., reduced that amount by $5.5 million.
The judge denied a request to halt EBay’s use of fixed-price sales while EBay appeals the verdict.
