eBay and the BlackBerry: A Media Coverage Case Study

This paper centers on media coverage relating to eBay and related patent system developments. In particular, it provides a quantitative comparison between media coverage of eBay and that relating to another recent patent case: the litigation between NTP, Inc. and Research in Motion, Ltd. involving the popular BlackBerry® handheld wireless communications device, and examines the extent and nature of the NTP-related coverage in light of the co-pendency of the two cases and the issues they share in common. In so doing, it facilitates consideration of the experience of news coverage consumers - including, presumably, Supreme Court Justices - while eBay was pending at the Court.