A federal appeals court grants the stay to allow the Supreme Court time to review the case or send it back to lower courts.
eBay, which was
For eBay, a decision in the case will help resolve the eventual status of its "buy it now" option on its auction site. MercExchange alleges that eBay and its Half.com subsidiary knowingly infringed on two MercExchange patents in their implementation of the "buy it now" option.
Last year, a federal district-court jury ruled in favor of MercExchange and ordered eBay to pay more than $25 million in damages.
The U.S. Appeals Court in March threw out one of the two patent infringement claims. Also earlier this year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office initially rejected MercExchange's claims involving the two patents.