Chicago-based Trading Technologies (TT) has settled another patent infringement lawsuit, this time with Colorado-based NinjaTrader which has agreed to licence TT's patented MD Trader technology.
In a statement TT says NinjaTrader admitted that the futures trading system, NinjaTrader SuperDOM, infringed two patents awarded for its MD Trader system - an order-entry screen that displays multiple prices so that users can judge the depth of a market - which is part of the its X_Trader platform.
Under a licence agreement NinjaTrader will pay TT a variable royalty of at least 10 cents per side for all contracts that trade in conjunction with the NinjaTrader SuperDOM system. NinjaTrader will also extend connectivity support for its advanced order management platform to TT's high speed gateways.
Raymond Deux, CEO of NinjaTrader, says: "The evidence has shown that TT's issued MD Trader patents are solid. This invention has proven to be of great value to traders by providing a more efficient means to enter, modify and execute their orders. Ninja plans to continue to offer and enhance its NinjaTrader product and SuperDOM trading screen pursuant to the licence."
The agreement also settled a lawsuit pending in the Federal Court in Chicago alleging that Ninja infringed two of TT's patents.
The firm is the latest in a number of vendors to be accused of patent infringement by TT. Chicago brokers Kingstree Trading and Goldenberg Hehmeyer both agreed an out-of-court settlement with TT within days of being sued by the vendor last year, while more recently UK-based Patsystems and Chicago-based Advantage Futures both settled claims.
The vendor is still contesting suits with other companies including UK hedge fund manager Man Group and bond trading network eSpeed. In May TT instigated a showdown with futures commission merchant and patent target Refco by saying it will disconnect services to Refco unless the two parties reach an agreement by today.
TT claims to process in excess of 50% futures market share through its X-Trader system. In December last year the vendor released an open letter to the futures industry asking for a fee of 2.5 cents per side on all trades conducted over the Big Four futures and options exchanges.