GH, I think most are viewing this as a frivolous legal claim. I am doubtful that lava really has the expectation that they will dominate the level II integrated book universe . Just an attempt to get power to extort its competitors. I am no Intellectual Property/ Patent lawyer but it seems unlikely that such a claim would succeed. Of course you wouldn't think that some dunce could sue Mc Dicks for hot coffee being too hot either! We'll wait and see. Bigger things to sweat right now. Unfortunately, if Lava's claim was to succeed there isn't a hell of a lot we could do anyways. :eek: MACD
I think eSignal will have much more aggregation with their new API. What is lava going to do sue Nadaq when they display aggregate data
MACD, You're definitely right about the frivolousness. Unfortunately, I'm guessing Lava will try their best to leverage this bad patent against competitors. Why else would they engage attorneys and spend all that cash on the patent. Moreover, their investors probably placed a lot of money with Lava based on that patent. They have to defend it. There's not much the average trader can do but talk about it and let Lava know how disgusted we are about this. Maybe Lava will realize that pursueing this patent isn't worth all the lost goodwill and bad press. What I'm really hoping is that the Realticks, Sonics, Blackwoods, REDI+'s of the world will make a statement about this BS, and band together to fight it. But I know that it's probably better for them to proceed in silence about this until their day in court.
I just read this story about Lava suing Sonic Trading: http://www.traderbulletin.com/discuss/msgReader$387 I applaud Sonic for fighting this seemingly ridiculous suit.
How can you sue somebody for displaying your book when, in effect, your book is coming form other people's displayed orders and quotes? Does this mean I could put an order out there and if Isld displays it, I can sue them for infringement???????
Anyone know when level 2 and full ECN order books first became integrated? Island and Arca became operational in January 1997, and Lava's patent wasn't filed until August 1999 (2.5 years later). Does anyone have any printed or online material that shows another firm (RealTick, Cyber, TradeStation, Sonic, etc.) with the integration of full ECN books with level 2?
I'm no patent attorney, either. But it's fairly easy to file a patent claim. You often get one, as previously mentioned, because the folks are so overworked. You don't' always have to be the first one using the technology. Sometimes, you simply have to be the first to claim it. The tricky part is defending it. And sometimes the plan is indeed to use a better backed company to keep the claim because a lessor funded company cannot afford to assert their previous development in court. Sometimes a smaller company will get away with a claim, but really be hoping a larger company will buy it from them. André
Cyber have never recognized this pattent, and they have it since a long time. Also, another patent legal case could help corporation for to invalidate this patent, Lotus vs Quattro about the grid for which the decision mention that when you have a limited choice for to do a representation of data, you cannot used a patent on it for to limit the competition! I think that is a very appropriate decision for this case ...