Ebay and the Blackberry®: A Media Coverage Case Study

36 Pages Posted: 10 Jan 2008

See all articles by Lisa A. Dolak

Lisa A. Dolak

Syracuse University - College of Law

Blaine T. Bettinger

Syracuse University College of Law

Date Written: December 11, 2007

Abstract

Patent owners, potential infringers, and the courts will continue to work through the implications of the Supreme Court's 2006 decision in eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. for some time. We look back, however, at media coverage relating to injunctions, trolls, and the U.S. patent system generally, in the months preceding the Court's decision. We show that although eBay featured prominently in news and editorial coverage while it was pending at the Court, it could not compete in the media with another patent case pending at the same time: the case that threatened to darken the Blackberry®. Further, we note that several of the most prominent media messages relating to the litigation between NTP, Inc. and Blackberry® service provider Research in Motion, Ltd. - that trolls shouldn't be able to enforce their patent rights, that patent quality is poor, and that patents on components should not confer injunction rights - reverberated in the Kennedy concurrence in eBay.

Keywords: patents, media, eBay

JEL Classification: K11, O34, L82

Suggested Citation

Dolak, Lisa A. and Bettinger, Blaine T., Ebay and the Blackberry®: A Media Coverage Case Study (December 11, 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1082220 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1082220

Lisa A. Dolak (Contact Author)

Syracuse University - College of Law ( email )

Syracuse, NY 13244-1030
United States

Blaine T. Bettinger

Syracuse University College of Law ( email )

Syracuse, NY 13244-1030
United States

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