AT&T Suing eBay Over Payment System
Published on Friday, November 28, 2003 5:49:47 PM
SAN JOSE, Calif. — AT&T filed a patent infringement lawsuit against eBay on Thursday, alleging the online auction company has been using a payment system that the telecommunications giant developed more than a decade ago.
The case, filed in federal court in Delaware, comes on the heels of an August verdict in which a Virginia judge ordered eBay to pay $29.5 million to an inventor who accused the company of stealing his ideas for fixed price sales formats.
According to the lawsuit, which seeks injunctive relief, AT&T is demanding that eBay pay licensing fees because its lucrative PayPal division functions as a "trusted intermediary" between buyers and sellers who may not know each other.
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