Thomas G. Woolston

Thomas G. Woolston

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 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 $25 million).cite web | title=eBay in Patent Fight Over 'Buy It Now' | url=http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:t-XqmnzckCsJ:money.excite.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt_top.jsp%3Fcat%3DTOPBIZ%26feed%3Dap%26src%3D601%26section%3Dnews%26news_id%3Dap-d8pnilfo0%26date%3D20070612%26alias%3D/alias/money/cm/nw+ap-d8pnilfo0&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ca]

Woolston patents

* Consignment nodes
* Method and apparatus for using search agents to search plurality of markets for items
* Facilitating internet commerce through internetworked auctions
* Facilitating electronic commerce through two-tiered electronic markets and auctions
* Generating and navigating streaming dynamic pricing information

External links

* [http://mercexchange.com MercExchange home page]
* [http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y04/m09/i30/s01 The eBay Patent Wars: Interview with MercExchange CEO Thomas Woolston]

References


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  • Thomas Woolston — (baptised November 1668 January 27, 1733) [William H. Trapnell, Thomas Woolston: Madman and Deist? Thoemmes Press, 1994. ISBN 1 855 06227 5] [William H. Trapnell, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101029963/ ‘Woolston, Thomas (bap. 1668, d. 1733)’] …   Wikipedia

  • WOOLSTON (T.) — WOOLSTON THOMAS (1669 1733) Précurseur de l’esprit critique qui, au XVIIIe siècle, accablera la religion chrétienne de son ironie, Woolston se rattache aussi à la tradition de Johannes Denck en privilégiant l’esprit aux dépens de la lettre. Mais …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Thomas Woolston — (1669 1731) fut un déiste anglais. Né à Northampton, il étudia la théologie à Cambridge puis occupa une chaire au collège de Sidney Sussex dans cette même université, chaire qu il perdit à cause de la hardiesse de ses opinions. En effet, il se… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Woolston — (spr. Wulst n), Thomas, geb. 1669 in Northampton, studirte bis 1720 in Cambridge Theologie, wurde aber aus Rache gegen die Geistlichkeit, welche ihn zu einem Amte nicht beförderlich war, ein Gegner des Christenthums u. Zweifler an der Wahrheit… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Woolston — (Ulst n), Thomas, gleich Toland, Collins, Shaftesbury u.a. einer der Freidenker, an denen England im 17. und 18. Jahrh. überreich war, geb. 1669 zu Northampton, wurde Mitglied des Sidneycollegs in Cambridge und Baccalaureus der Theologie. Er… …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • Thomas Sherlock — (1678 ndash; 18 July 1761) was an English divine who served as a Church of England bishop for 33 years. He is also noted in church history as an important contributor to Christian apologetics.Early lifeHe was the son of William Sherlock and was… …   Wikipedia

  • Woolston, Hampshire — Infobox UK place country = England map type = Southampton official name= Woolston latitude = 50.8931 longitude = 1.3765 unitary england= Southampton lieutenancy england=Hampshire post town= SOUTHAMPTON postcode area= SO dial code= 023… …   Wikipedia

  • Woolston, Thomas — ▪ English theologian born 1670, Northampton, Northamptonshire, Eng. died Jan. 27, 1733, London       English religious writer and Deist (Deism).       Woolston became a fellow at the University of Cambridge in 1691. After studying the work of… …   Universalium

  • WOOLSTON, THOMAS —    an eccentric semi deistical writer, born at Northampton, who maintained a lifelong polemic against the literal truth of the Bible, and insisted that the miraculous element in it must be allegorically interpreted, with such obstinacy that he… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • SHERLOCK, THOMAS —    English prelate, born in London; became bishop in succession of Bangor, Salisbury, and London, declining the Primacy; wrote several theological works, and took up arms against the rationalists of the day, such as Collins and Woolston (1678… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

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