March 16, 2012 – On March 14th, Soverain Software [NPE] filed thirteen separate suits against over 30 defendants including eBay, IBM, Oracle, PayPal, and Walgreen, alleging that the defendants’ ecommerce software and websites infringe US patents 5,715,314 and 5,909,492, which generally relate to online shopping.  Soverain has reportedly reached prior license and settlement agreements with over 40 companies, including a $40,000,000 settlement with Amazon in 2005.  (Soverain has also been awarded $9,200,000 in damages from Victoria’s Secret, $8,700,000 in damages from Avon, and $2,500,000 in damages from Newegg along with an on-going royalty fee of $0.15 per infringing transaction for the life of the patents.)  Both of the asserted Soverain patents survived reexamination in 2007.