EBay said Thursday that it had bought the three MercExchange patents it had been accused of violating.

Online auction leader eBay Inc warned in an annual report on Friday that it faces difficulty getting former customers to return, adding to the normal challenge of attracting new users to its sites.

‘OK. Fine. We’ll buy your patents’ After six years of legal bickering , which included a trip to the highest court in the land, eBay and MercExchange have finally settled their long running patent dispute.…

ROME — Kary Dean Head, 50, of Fort Oglethorpe, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Harold L. Murphy on a wire fraud charge arising from a scheme to defraud bidders on eBay, the Internet auction service, of over $150,000.

Kary dean head, 50, of Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Harold L. Murphy on a wire fraud charge arising from a scheme to defraud bidders on eBay, the Internet auction service, of over $150,000.

eBay has reached a settlement with MercExchange in a case that had bounced around several courts and prompted a landmark Supreme Court decision. The San Jose, Calif.-based online auctioneer will purchase three patents, including technology central to its vaunted “Buy It Now” feature, from Great Falls, Va.-based MercExchange for an undisclosed sum.

EBay said Thursday that it had bought the three MercExchange patents it had been accused of violating.

EBay has settled a patent dispute with MercExchange that in 2006 was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, which sided with the online auction house in what is considered to be an important ruling on intellectual property.

At least it was encrypted this time. The Home Office has launched an investigation after a buyer acquired a laptop on eBay that contained a disc with confidential information.

Also names most pirated vendors. A leading anti-piracy body has accused eBay over counterfeit software, claiming in a new report that “at least 90 percent of all software available on eBay is illegal”.