Judge grants injunction against barnesandnoble.com
NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Online retailer
barnesandnoble.com Inc. <BNBN.O> said on Thursday a judge had
blocked the company from using the online shopping "one-click
technology," which rival Amazon.com Inc. <AMZN.O> claims
infringes one of its patents.
Amazon.com, the biggest online retailer, sued
barnesandnoble.com in November, alleging that it had
"meticulously copied" Amazon.com's proprietary "1-Click"
express checkout system. Amazon said it was granted a U.S.
patent on the system in September.
"Although we are disappointed with the judge's preliminary
injunction, we believe our position regarding our order process
technology will be upheld upon appeal," barnesandnoble.com said
in a statement.
It also said it would speed up the launch of its Express
Checkout service, which will replace the disputed Express Lane
service using the one-click technology. It said the new service
would be in place within the next several days. The new service
was previously scheduled to be launched after the holidays.
Barnesandnoble.com said it would continue to fight the
Amazon.com lawsuit and that its online business would not be
affected.
In its suit, filed in federal court in Seattle, Amazon.com
seeks damages equivalent to a "reasonable royalty" for its
invention, tripled, plus legal expenses.
Barnesandnoble.com, which sells books. music, magazines and
software, is a venture of Barnes & Noble Inc. <BKS.N> and the
German media company Bertelsmann AG <BTGGga.D>, each of which
owns a 40 percent stake. The other 20 percent is publicly held.
Shares of barnesandnoble.com closed at 19-3/8 on Wednesday
on the Nasdaq stock market, while Amazon.com finished at 85.
REUTERS
Rtr 09:44 12-02-99 |
