eBay slammed with $3.8-billion lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO: eBay has been slapped with a $3.8-billion lawsuit by a company that claims the online auctioneer stole its ideas for online payments and then tried to patent them as its own, according to a news release for the plaintiffs Wednesday.

In the lawsuit, lawyers for XPRT Ventures claimed that it shared details of its online payments system with the company after eBay signed a confidentiality agreement, only to find that the retail giant later applied for patents for that same technology. The application was denied because of XPRT's prior patents, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit named PayPal, as well as other eBay subsidiaries BillMeLater, Shopping.com, and StubHub, as defendants in the lawsuit.

eBay said the case was without merit.

"We are reviewing the complaint filed today," an eBay representative said. "We believe it is without merit, and intend to defend ourselves vigorously."