After more than a five-year ongoing battle over e-commerce patents, online consumer electronics retailer Newegg has won an appeal in a patent infringement lawsuit with patent holder Soverain Software.  On January 22, 2013, the appeals court invalidated Soverain’s three patent claims and vacated the district court’s 2010 jury verdict and damages award of $2.5 million. In a unanimous decision, the appeals court found that Soverain’s patent claims (5,715,314; 5,909,492; and 7,272,639 ) were invalid and stated that the “district court’s conclusion that a prima facie case of obviousness was not met is not explained by the court or by Soverain, and does not accord with the record.” The appeals court further concluded that the ‘314 and ‘492 patents, referred to as the “shopping cart” claims, are invalid based on the obviousness of the prior art CompuServe Mall system. Regarding the ‘492 patent, referred to as the “hypertext statement” claims, the court said, “Open Market did not invent the Internet, or hypertext, or the URL,” and concluded that Newegg presented clear and convincing evidence of obviousness. Soverain originally sued Newegg in November 2007, along with other retailers CDW, Redcats, Systemax, and Zappos. All other defendants, except for Newegg, reached settlement agreements by May 2009. (Federal Circuit case number 2011-1009)