News

2 Nov 2006

DLA Piper advises ISE in action seeking to end exclusive listing of index options

Press Release

NEW YORK - Today DLA Piper US LLP filed a complaint on behalf of International Securities Exchange, LLC and International Securities Exchange Holdings, Inc. (ISE) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking to end the exclusive listing of certain index options. ISE has asked the court to issue a declaratory judgment holding that ISE does not need a license to list index options on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Ticker: DJX) and S&P 500 Index (Ticker: SPX). Currently, these two actively-traded index options trade exclusively on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) pursuant to licensing agreements between CBOE and Dow Jones & Company, the provider of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., the provider of the S&P 500 Index. In June 2006, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that ISE did not need a license to list options on the SPDR and DIAMONDS exchange-traded funds.

Andrew Deutsch, who heads the intellectual property practice group of DLA Piper's New York office, is lead counsel for ISE.  DLA Piper and Mr. Deutsch previously represented ISE in its successful defense of litigations brought by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  Those suits sought to enjoin ISE from unlicensed listing of options on the SPDR and DIAMONDS exchange-traded funds.  In June 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a September 2005 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that denied Dow Jones’ motion for preliminary injunction and dismissed both Dow Jones and McGraw-Hill’s complaints.

About DLA Piper
DLA Piper has 3,200 lawyers and 62 offices in 24 countries throughout the U.S., U.K., Continental Europe, Middle East and Asia. It has leading practices in commercial, corporate and finance, human resources, litigation, real estate, regulatory and legislative, and technology, media and communications.

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CONTACTS:
Andrew Deutsch, Intellectual Property Practice, DLA Piper, 212.335.4880
Jason Costa, Media Relations, DLA Piper, 212.776.3739