eBay is holding a sale on fixed-price listings and Buy It Now (BIN) listing upgrades. The promotion was announced on eBay hours after news hit that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit made a decision on Wednesday in the appeal of the MercExchange v. eBay and Half.com patent lawsuit (http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m03/i16/s00).

According to MercExchange's law firm Hunton & Williams, "The appellate court reversed the district court's denial of a permanent injunction and remands the case to the district court for entry of the injunction. This injunction implicates all of eBay's fixed price and "Buy It Now" sales,...

However, in a statement issued Wednesday, eBay states, "Looking forward, we believe that any injunction that might be issued by the District Court with respect to the other patent will not have an impact on our business because of changes we have made following the District Court's original verdict."

The Fixed-Price/BIN promotion seems timed to reassure users and analysts that eBay is unconcerned about possible implications of the ruling. eBay's promotion on Thursday specifically targets fixed-price and Buy-It-Now listings.

During the promotion, the insertion fee for Fixed Price format listings will be 50 percent off. For auction-style listings, the Buy It Now upgrade will be free. All other fees apply, see eBay's website for details and restrictions.

http://www2.ebay.com:80/aw/marketing.shtml#2005-03-16165029

http://pages.ebay.com/promo/springsale03