US market operator IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) is claiming victory in a long-running legal battle with the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) over the use of the latter's settlement prices.
Nymex first filed a copyright infringement against ICE in 2002 and claimed its rivals use of settlement prices violated intellectual property rights.
Last August the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a judgement in favour of ICE over the right of market participants to use Nymex settlement prices. Now the United States Supreme Court has denied Nymex the right to seek further appeals.
In a statement Jeffrey Sprecher, chairman and CEO, ICE, says: "We have long maintained that Nymex's litigation was commercially motivated to stifle competition and protect market data revenues on publicly available information."
"Throughout this protracted legal process, ICE has remained confident that its use of Nymex settlement prices in connection with its derivatives products did not violate intellectual property rights of Nymex," he adds.
Nymex confirmed yesterday that it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by CME Group in a cash and stock deal worth around $9.4 billion.