CBOE competitor wants $300M in patent dispute

(Crain's) — A Chicago Board Options Exchange rival claims the exchange owes it $300 million in patent infringement damages.

New York-based International Securities Exchange LLC, which has been embroiled in a patent dispute with CBOE for years, filed its claim May 7 in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

The ISE’s claim for monetary damages came in response to a request that CBOE made for a summary judgment instead of a jury trial in a patent dispute case filed in 2007.

CBOE in 2007 asked a federal court to rule that its trading technology does not infringe on patents held by ISE. Both sides have continued to battle the issue in court, with CBOE recently calling for a judge to deliver a ruling.

The CBOE is on the verge of an initial public offering of at least $292 million. Its members are scheduled to vote Friday on a demutualization plan that would allow it to go public.

A CBOE spokeswoman declined to comment on the ISE's $300-millioin damages claim, citing a quiet period before an IPO, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report.

But in a notice that CBOE sent to member-owners, exchange officials said they were "confident" that their position in the patent dispute was "well-founded," Dow Jones reported.

An ISE spokeswoman told Dow Jones that the company is "highly confident in the merits of this case and believe that our legal filing speaks for itself."