Word: ebay
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Whatever the eBay verdict, the patent office looks overwhelmed. It received a stunning 409,532 applications in its 2005 fiscal year, up from around 126,000 in 1985. Examiners average just 19.7 hours per application. None of this is news to Jon Dudas, director of the office, who admits that his staff can't keep up. "It's not that we're taking longer," he says, "but the line just gets longer out the door." In January Dudas announced steps to streamline the process and hire more examiners...
Woolston, for his part, vows to fight eBay regardless of the Supreme Court verdict. One of his rejected patents was reinstated on appeal, he says, and he plans to sue eBay again. An eBay spokesman says the company has a workaround should Woolston get an injunction. Suffice it to say, this is one patent war that won't end soon...
...Katrina-damaged school buses that New Orleans hopes to sell on eBay to raise money for its public-school system. Bids on one hit $5,500 within 29 hours...
Blakely Smith, an ad-sales rep from Philadelphia, was trying to hold down the cost of her upcoming wedding, so she did what a lot of cost-conscious brides are doing these days. She shopped for her wedding dress on eBay. And she found it: a beautiful Monique Lhuillier design that was lacy and sophisticated and everything she had hoped for. Smith started bidding. And hoping. And bidding again. At the end of the auction, unfortunately, her bid of $2,400 wasn't high enough to meet the seller's hidden reserve price. That meant the dress didn't sell...
...like to buy things on eBay and other online auction sites, as I do, here's what you need to know to protect yourself...