eBay in the Hot Seat With the DOJ

The Department of Justice anti-trust division has begun preliminary investigations into the actions of eBay to bar so called Internet "bots" from searching their site for products. Although no action has been taken, and no formal investigation has started, there is no indication that the DOJ will not pursue legal action. Jay Monahan, eBay's senior intellectual-property rights counsel believes that the companies actions are a matter of blocking illegal entry and intrusion, and not "anti-competitive."

This lawsuit comes after eBay filed a claim against Bidders Edge for intrusion in December of last year. Citing that they do offer licensing to allow these auction "combing" activities to ease the chaos of most online auction sites, Monahan stated that the company was "confident our position will win the day."

James Carney of AuctionWatch, another site dedicated to online auctioning, believes "Tactics such as eBay's attempt to bar the bots threaten to break down the openness that made the Internet great." After eBay blocked AuctionWatch in November of last year, programmers at AuctionWatch quickly developed a way to work around it.

eBay responded to these actions by telling its users that "eBay must have the ability to disallow certain types of monitoring and copying of our site in the interest of protecting the integrity of the eBay system and your information." eFront will keep you posted on this issue as more details emerge.