Thomas G. Woolston
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas G. Woolston is the patented inventor of several important online auction technologies. He is also the founder of MercExchange.
Mr. Woolston served in the US Air Force, has an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University and a law degree. He has also worked for the CIA.
In 1995 Woolston filed his first patent application on on-line auction technology. The patent was granted in December of 1998. He then founded MercExchange to commercialize his technology. He has since had several other patents issue along with other coinventors.
eBay 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 $30 million).
[edit] Woolston patents
- U.S. Patent 5845265 Consignment nodes
- U.S. Patent 6085176 Method and apparatus for using search agents to search plurality of markets for items
- U.S. Patent 6202051 Facilitating internet commerce through internetworked auctions
- U.S. Patent 6266651 Facilitating electronic commerce through two-tiered electronic markets and auctions
- U.S. Patent 6856967 Generating and navigating streaming dynamic pricing information
