TT, Refco Request November 2006 Trial
by Laurence Davison
Trading Technologies (TT) and Refco Group have jointly
requested a schedule for the patent infringement case
between the two, culminating in a trial in November 2006, in a
document filed with Northern Illinois District Court. The
document estimates that the trial would have a duration of one
to two weeks.
The proposed schedule submitted by the two firms also sets a
deadline of 5 October this year for Refco to disclose the prior
art it intends to rely on to prove invalidity of TTâs patents. The
broker recently requested documentation of supposed prior
art from Osaka Securities Exchange and Tokyo Financial
Exchange (see FO Week Vol 10 No 14).
Meanwhile, in another court document, TT responded to
Refcoâs complaint about the ISVâs threat to pull the plug on its
screens at Refco on 15 July. TT claimed that the contract
termination and its original patent infringement suit against the
broker were both legitimate.
In its court submission, TT said, âNo matter how hard Refco
strains it has not â and cannot â transform those two lawful
acts into a recognised theory which would entitle Refco to any
legal relief.
âIn a futile attempt to salvage its meritless counterclaims,
Refco mischaracterises TT⦠and tries to cast TT in an
unfavourable light for bringing legitimate patent enforcement
actions against infringers.â
The ISV also argued that its oft-repeated claim that over 50%
of the volume on the largest four futures exchanges is traded
through TT screens does not mean that the firm has a
monopoly position. It said that, despite that volume share, âfar
less than 20%â of total trading screens in use were licensed or
sold by TT.
Drawing a comparison in its defence, TTâs filing said, âJust as
General Motorsâ market share is based on the number of cars
it sells, not the number of miles driven by the purchasers, so
should TTâs market share not be measured based on volume
traded.â
FO Week recently revealed that the US Justice Department
had initiated an investigation into the possibility of TT having a
monopoly position (see FO Week Vol 10 No 25), a possibility
the ISV has strenuously denied.
A TT spokesperson confirmed to FO Week that the firm still
intended to pull the plug on Refco on 15 July.
( FO Week, July 18, 2005 )