Prior Art (Score 1)

I found an interesting web page here which discusses what qualifies as prior art for patents. Based upon quotes like this it seems that eBay is definately going to be fighting an uphill battle:

First, a person is not entitled to a patent if the invention was "known or used by others in this country, or was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country" before the date of invention by the applicant for the patent.

Of course, given the Patent Office's willingness to grant silly patents to other Internet companies, who can say what'll happen with this.