Thomas G. Woolston
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Thomas G. Woolston is a patent attorney, and the
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
ed inventor of several
online auction An online auction (also electronic auction, e-auction, virtual auction, or eAuction) is an auction held over the internet and accessed by internet connected devices. Similar to in-person auctions, online auctions come in a variety of types, with ...
business methods. He is also the founder of MercExchange. Mr. Woolston served in the
US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
, has an undergraduate degree in
electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
from
George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...
and a law degree. He has also worked for the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
. In 1995 Woolston filed his first patent application on on-line auction technology. The patent was granted in December 1998. He then founded MercExchange to commercialize his technology. He has since had several other patents issue along with other coinventors.
eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...
approached MercExchange to purchase the Woolston patents. Negotiations broke down when Woolston discovered that eBay was already infringing the patents. He sued eBay for patent infringement. The patents were found to be valid and willfully infringed. Damages to MercExchange by eBay's infringement were initially assessed at $35 million (later reduced to $25 million). However, the case also resulted in the clarification of the rules regarding the application of permanent injunctions in patent infringement cases. As a result, it is now much more difficult for non-practicing entities to obtain permanent injunctions.


Woolston patents

* Consignment nodes * Method and apparatus for using search agents to search plurality of markets for items * Facilitating internet commerce through internetworked auctions * Facilitating electronic commerce through two-tiered electronic markets and auctions * Generating and navigating streaming dynamic pricing information


References


External links


MercExchange home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolston, Thomas George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni George Washington University Law School alumni American lawyers American company founders