Retailers with e-commerce websites that rely on shopping carts can breathe a little easier

Soverain claimed patents 5,715,314 and 5,909,492 allowed them to demand a royalty on “shopping carts” used by e-commerce sites Macy’s, Home Depot, RadioShack, Kohl’s and a host of others. They were rewarded for their litigious efforts by securing substantial victories over Victoria’s Secret and Avon.

It all came to an end, presumably, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit last week overturned a District Court ruling and found for Newegg, another firm being sued by Soverain, dismissing Soverain’s patents as obvious and claims as embodied in prior art.

ArsTechnica summarized the loss this way: Soverain will lose the $2.5 million it stood to gain from Newegg, plus the $18M and 1% running royalty it gained from Victoria’s Secret and Avon.  And that should be the end of it.