Auction software

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Auction software is application software, that can either be deployed on a Web server for online auctions or as stand-alone software for live auctions, that handles all aspects of conducting an auction. It provides the ability for users to post items for sale in an auction format as well as the ability to bid on those items.

The most well known purveyor of online auction software is possibly Ebay, Inc. out of San Jose, California. Ebay was the first company to popularize the notion of conducting an auction over the Internet. The auction software that Ebay uses is proprietary and not available to the general public.

A number of firms specialize in providing commercially available online and live auction engines, including Beyond Solutions, Bid Stream, iAuctionSoftware.com, RainWorx Software, Siebel, Moai Technologies, Netmerchants and AuctionRPM. Some of these firms will customize the software to target the specific requirements of various vertical markets.

In 1995, Virginia inventor Thomas Woolston was awarded key US Patents for a series of inventions introducing the online auction marketplace. In 2000, after eBay contacted Woolston and his company, MercExchange LLC, to buy the patent portfolio, the auction giant balked. Woolston and his partners sued and won a 2003 guilty verdict in a Virginia federal court; the jury awarded $25USD million of damages. MercExchange pressed to have eBay shutter infringing operations, but eBay appealed the ruling all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. The highest court ruled in 2006 that an injunction on eBay's operations was not required nor automatic, but that the Virginia judge had the discretion to enter the injunction. In late 2006, the case was returned to the Virginia court for an injunction and settlement negotiations between the two parties began in January 2007. In July 2007, the U.S. District Count assigned the case denied the motion for a permanent patent injunction against eBay. Judge Jerome Friedman stayed further proceedings on an additional eCommerce related patent until the U.S Patent and Trademark office has time to reexamine the validity of the patent granted to MercExchange. Judge Friedman publicly stated that MercExchange "has utilized its patents as a sword to extract money rather than as a shield to protect its right to exclude or its market-share, reputations, goodwill, or name recognition, as MercExchange appears to possess none of these."

Online auction tools have been recently made by third party developers to access many online auctions. Auctiva is a browser based listing tool for listing items on ebay with provides a number of benefits to ebay sellers at no cost.

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