EBay v. MercExchange: Stay of Injunction Pending Appeal

A friend of mine who is also a senior patent counsel at a major technology corporation passed along his thoughts on the eBay appeal in an anonymous article entitled eBay v. MercExchange: Are YOUR Interests Represented?. 

The article, published here on Patently-O, raises a particular issue—that of stays pending appeal.  The article argues, inter alia, that the relatively short CAFC docket (~1 year) coupled with the high reversal rate indicate that injunctions should generally be stayed pending appeal.

This approach takes the high middle ground — allowing for injunctions on a regular basis, but not forcing settlement based on district court holdings that would potentially be vacated on appeal.

Notes:

• Cite the article as: Note, eBay v. MercExchange: Are YOUR Interests Represented?, Patently-O, January 31, 2006 at http://www.patentlyo.com.
• The article can be linked directly at: http://patentlyo.com/patent/eBay_20Article.pdf
• Comments on the article should be directed to me.