Trading Techs. Int’l., Inc. v. BCG Partners, Inc., No. 10 C 715 (Consolidated), Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Feb. 9, 2012) (Kendall, J.).

Judge Kendall decided the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment in plaintiff Trading Technologies’ (“TT”) patent infringement case involving futures trading software.  The Court agreed to decide isolated issues, including claim construction, ahead of schedule to expedite overall case resolution.  The Court made the following key rulings:

  • The TT claims were not invalid for lack of written description based upon the use of a default quantity.  The patent referenced a default quantity, and a user inputting that quantity was also described.   
  • The Court granted defendant’s motion finding that any claims of TT’s ‘411 patent that sought to cover automatically varying price axes would not be supported by the specifications and would be invalid.
  • The prosecution history, estoppel from an earlier patent as to the “static price axing” flowed to all of the progeny of that patent.