Auction software
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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, 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.
