eSpeed accused BrokerTec of infringing upon its 580 patent which protects its dealing system. BrokerTec had denied the claims, supposedly worth $100m, arguing that its trading system is completely different to eSpeed’s. The BrokerTec platform is said to give traders three seconds of exclusivity before others join in while eSpeed’s has no time restrictions.
This is the latest case involving Cantor Fitzgerald and Icap, who have been rivals for 20 years in the electronic trading industry. The establishment of BrokerTec in 1999 was seen as an attempt to decrease Cantor’s dominance of the sector, and since then it has claimed over 50% in the US Treasury bonds market from eSpeed, who in 2002 had this same amount of the electronic market.
Spokesman Michael Geller was quoted in the Telegraph as saying that eSpeed would appeal against the judge’s ruling, and a jury is yet to hear testimony on Icap’s counter suit which will challenge the validity of the eSpeed patent.
The two companies also face other cases filed against them: eSpeed will battle US company Trading Technologies over another technology patent later this year
while a case brought against another Icap subsidiary, Garban, is still progressing.
