Shouldn't this be stupid: eBay guilty of "Buy It Now"

[moorfang]

http://news.com.com/2100-1018_3-1010397.html?tag=fd_top

A U.S. district Court jury sided with MercExchange of Great Falls, Va., which accused eBay in 2001 of infringing on three patents held by MercExchange founder Tom Woolston. The verdict determined that eBay and its Half.com subsidiary willfully infringed on two of those patents with their "Buy It Now" feature for fixed-price sales.

A federal jury on Tuesday found eBay guilty of patent infringement and ordered the online auction giant to pay $35 million in damages.

Quite a bunch of auction websites around the world have this "Buy It Now" feature.
Are they guilty as well? :rolleyes:
C'mon! Seems like maybe somebody would jump out and shout
"Hey! You infringe my property! I have the patent of "It Sux!". :o

[Edge]

Huh...ok...I don't really understand that. It's not like "Buy it now" is some clever and unique slogan. God, how many more bogus lawsuits against big companies are going to win?

[vampireuk]

how on earth can you trademark buy it now?:eek:

[Blasphemer]

Id hereby like to register the phrase "Calm it Kermit" as trademark

Cheers :D

[netviper13]

The people and judges who side with the people filing these moronic lawsuits should be either shot or beaten upside the head with a 2x4. :mad:

[DaveW]

Originally posted by vampireuk
how on earth can you trademark buy it now?:eek:

Yeah really. I never understood how you can trademark a simple common phrase.

Maybe I will trademark the letter "A". Then I can sue everyone whenever they use it.