Websites that function as auction-comparison sites — consolidating information from multiple auction websites so that auction shoppers can look for bargains in one convenient place — may have to rethink their business models if the giant of online auctions has its way.
The San Jose, Calif. company eBay, Inc., which pioneered the burgeoning Internet auction market, filed a lawsuit Dec. 10 against the Massachusetts company Bidders Edge, claiming that defendant’s indexing of and links to information on the eBay website infringes on eBay’s copyrights and is trespassory and unfair use of the eBay site (eBay Inc. v. Bidder’s Edge, D. Calif., No. 0-99 21200, filed 12/10/99).
