Online auction company eBay Inc. said Monday that federal antitrust regulators had closed an inquiry into its conduct toward sites that aggregate auction listings.
The investigation stemmed from a suit the online auction giant filed in December 1999 against Bidder's Edge, which let its customers monitor multiple auction sites simultaneously.
Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the Justice Department's antitrust division requested documents related to the case and eBay's licensing program with other aggregators.
"The division has closed its investigation without taking action against us," eBay said in an annual filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona declined to comment. The probe, which was never confirmed by investigators, was first made public in another eBay regulatory filing.
The suit was settled earlier this month, with Bidder's Edge agreeing to pay eBay an undisclosed amount of money.
News source: The Nando Times - Justice ends antitrust examination of eBay
The investigation stemmed from a suit the online auction giant filed in December 1999 against Bidder's Edge, which let its customers monitor multiple auction sites simultaneously.
Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the Justice Department's antitrust division requested documents related to the case and eBay's licensing program with other aggregators.
"The division has closed its investigation without taking action against us," eBay said in an annual filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona declined to comment. The probe, which was never confirmed by investigators, was first made public in another eBay regulatory filing.
The suit was settled earlier this month, with Bidder's Edge agreeing to pay eBay an undisclosed amount of money.
News source: The Nando Times - Justice ends antitrust examination of eBay
San Jose-based eBay contended software robots deployed by Bidder's Edge were trespassing on its site and creating a strain on servers. Bidder's Edge countered that the site was public.
In May, a judge agreed with eBay and issued a preliminary injunction temporarily banning Bidder's Edge from sending the robots to eBay. The settlement reaffirmed the judge's findings.
According to Monday's filing, eBay now has 42.4 million registered users and listed more than 423 million items in 2001. The value of all the transactions was more than $9.3 billion last year.
Shares of eBay closed down $1.81 to $57.40 in Monday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
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