eBay intends to appeal the $29.5 million judgment against it in the MercExchange lawsuit ruling, according to financial filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
MercExchange LLC sued eBay in September 2001, declaring its founder Tom Woolston began applying for online-auction related patents in the spring of 1995, about 5 months before Pierre Omidyar launched the original eBay Web site. In May, a federal jury in Virginia found eBay guilty of patent infringement and ordered eBay to pay $35 million in damages. The judge reduced the damages to $29.5 million in his post-trial motions ruling.
eBay also amended its second quarter 2003 results to reflect an operating charge in the amount of $30 million and the related tax benefit of $12.1 million.
