Traduccion:
eBay advirtió el lunes a los accionistas de que afronta un posible pleito de acción popular en el estado de California y probablemente sufrirá más demandas por casos de patente.
La demanda alega que eBay y PayPal actuaron "para 'monopolizar' impropiamente las formas de pago que los vendedores pueden usar en eBay".
El demandante reclama daños triples y un requerimiento para que eBay no se comporte de un modo similar otra vez. La noticia surgió de la presentación de eBay de su declaración anual a la Comisión de Valores y Cambio. El caso debía ser dirimido en principio en Texas.
La declaración añade que la filial de entradas de eBay, StubHub, también afronta una demanda de acción popular por imprimir supuestamente recibos que contenían más de los cinco últimos dígitos del número de la tarjeta de crédito. eBay dijo: "creemos que tenemos argumentos de defensa dignas de elogio y tenemos la intención de defendernos enérgicamente."
eBay, PayPal face court action
Class action alleges unfair monopoly
By John Oates → More by this author
Published Thursday 26th April 2007 14:24 GMT
Nail down your security priorities. Ask the experts and your peers at The Register Security Debate, April 17, 2008
eBay warned shareholders yesterday that it is facing a possible class action suit in the state of California and is likely to be hit by more patent cases.
The suit alleges that eBay and PayPal acted "to improperly 'monopolise' the forms of payment that sellers can use on eBay".
The plaintiff claims treble damages and an injunction to stop eBay behaving in a similar way again. The news emerged from eBay's filing of its annual statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The case was originally to be heard in Texas.
The statement adds that eBay's ticket subsidiary StubHub is also facing a purported class action case for allegedly printing receipts which contained more than the last five digits of credit card numbers. eBay said: "We believe that we have meritorious defenses and intend to defend ourselves vigorously."
eBay also warned that it expects to face a growing number of patent cases. The quarterly report says: "We will increasingly be subject to patent infringement claims as our services expand in scope and complexity. In particular, we expect that we may face additional patent infringement claims involving various aspects of our Marketplaces, Payments, and Communications businesses."
The online auctioneer warns it could also face legal action for breaching copyright and trademarks, especially in Europe. ®
