The Financial Times reports that the New York Mercantile Exchange is close to settling a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Cantor Fitzgerald subsidiary eSpeed.
The proposed deal would see Nymex paying eSpeed about $9m to settle the lawsuit, says the FT. The figure is significantly less than the $15m out-of-court settlement eSpeed extracted from both the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade.
The FT says an agreement with Nymex would give eSpeed's Wagner patent, which covers the matching of bids and offers in any electronic trading of futures in the US, more validity.