eBay being sued over patent infringement

From: Doc Shipley <doc_at_mdrconsult.com>
Date: Wed Apr 23 21:59:00 2003

On Wednesday, April 23, 2003, at 08:40 PM, Mail List wrote:

> That's right here in the next town over. If it's an open courtroom I
> could
> go over there and check it out.
>
> I don't know about eBay and patent infringement, but I think eBay
> has a monopoly on the online auction market for private individuals
> which might warrant anti-trust action. I don't think a private
> individual

   The fact that an entity may be the only viable player on a given
field doesn't "warrant anti-trust action." If eBay is actively doing
anything to hinder their competition, other than doing what they do
VERY well, and marketing it well, *that* might warrant action.

> would be able to sell many types of items anymore through a classified
> ad, and if they tried to use another online auction service, would do
> so
> poorly, that if they would like to do the best they can, just about
> have no

   I sell goods all the time on the austin.forsale newsgroup. As far as
I'm concerned, eBay is an *asset* to that, not a detraction. eBay is
the de facto Blue Book for used/surplus goods, allowing me to decide if
my property is salable, whether it's worth more in cash than as a
possession, and how to price it. It also shortstops lowballing by
prospective customers. Naturally, it isn't the only resource I use,
but it a very convenient and extremely well-organized asset for any
seller, and for any buyer of either local or online goods.

> choice but to list on eBay. Also, eBay has such power in this arena
> these days, i.e. no other online auction service for the private
> individual
> seems to be able to compete very well with them, that they got the
> sellers by the "nads". They don't seem to be very interested in the
> performance of their customers, i.e. the sellers. That's why I don't
> offer
> anything for sale on eBay anymore. I only buy on eBay these days.

   As far as I can tell, and I haven't heard even a rumor of eBay
leveraging their weight against the competition, the only reason the
other online auction services aren't getting action is that they suck.

        Doc
Received on Wed Apr 23 2003 - 21:59:00 BST