fw : enron accused of infringing patent for electronic trading this story appeared in bloomberg today . it ' s true that we were served today . based on vance meyer ' s ( pr ) conversation with legal , our current media response is that we don ' t comment on litigation . mark taylor , richard sanders , travis mccullaugh and an attorney from v meyer , vance ; philipp , meredith ; denne , karen subject : enron accused of infringing patent for electronic trading enron accused of infringing patent for electronic trading 2001 - 09 - 21 15 : 07 ( new york ) enron accused of infringing patent for electronic trading marshall , texas , sept . 21 ( bloomberg ) - - enron corp . , the largest energy trader , and its online unit are accused in a lawsuit of infringing a texas company ' s patent for an electronic trading system . bid / ask llc of baird , texas , formerly called auction source llc , said it is the sole rights owner of a patent issued in may 2000 for a ` ` real - time network exchange with seller specified exchange parameters and interactive seller participation . ' ' houston - based enron and its enrononline unit are improperly using that patented technology through its internet - based electronic trading facility , according to the lawsuit filed sept . 17 in federal court in marshall , texas . enron trades commodities such as natural gas and electricity on that trading network . bid / ask seeks a court order blocking enron from infringing the patent , and is asking for damages . enrononline began trading electricity and natural gas in november 1999 . between then and the second quarter of 2001 , it ' s handled more than 1 million transactions valued at more than $ 685 billion , the company has said . enron , which also trades space on fiber - optic networks , coal , paper and other commodities , had net income of $ 979 million on revenue of $ 100 . 8 billion in 2000 . an official with enron couldn ' t immediately be reached for comment . shares of enron rose 13 cents to $ 28 . 52 in midafternoon trading .