The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) today announced that the Circuit Court of Cook County has ruled in favor of CBOE, CME Group Index Services, LLC (CGIS) and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. regarding the index options litigation brought against the International Securities Exchange, LLC (ISE) and The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC).
Today's ruling prohibits ISE from listing or offering a market for trading in options on either the S&P 500® Index (SPX) or the Dow Jones Industrial AverageSM (DJX), as to which CBOE holds an exclusive license. In addition, the ruling forbids OCC, which clears trading for all U.S. options exchanges, from clearing SPX and DJX options unless they are traded pursuant to CBOE's exclusive license.
"We are obviously gratified that the Court has ruled in CBOE's favor," said CBOE Chairman and CEO William J. Brodsky. "After nearly four years of defending our contractual right to exclusively list and trade these index products, we are elated that the time, energy and resources needed for litigation may now be redirected to focus on new initiatives to better serve our customers and benefit our shareholders. No third party should be able to interfere with contractual licensing agreements. Nor should any exchange have a free ride on the enormous investment CBOE made in creating options on these indexes and in developing and marketing them for over two decades."
On November 15, 2006, CBOE filed a lawsuit in Cook County, Illinois, against ISE and the OCC to prevent ISE from listing or offering a market for trading in SPX or DJX options and to prevent OCC from unauthorized clearing of such trades. CBOE was joined in the lawsuit by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. and its Standard & Poor's Division and Dow Jones & Company, Inc. (now CME Group Index Services, LLC).
Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the largest U.S. options exchange and creator of listed options, continues to set the bar for options trading through product innovation, trading technology and investor education. CBOE offers equity, index and ETF options, including proprietary products, such as S&P 500 options (SPX), the most active U.S. index option, and options on the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX). Other products engineered by CBOE include equity options, security index options, LEAPS, FLEX options, and benchmark products, such as the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (BXM). CBOE's Hybrid Trading System incorporates electronic and open-outcry trading and is powered by CBOEdirect, a proprietary, state-of-the-art electronic platform that also supports the CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE), CBOE Stock Exchange (CBSX) and OneChicago. CBOE is home to the world-renowned Options Institute and www.cboe.com, named "Best of the Web" for options information and education.
CBOE, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE), is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with all trades cleared by the AAA-rated Options Clearing Corporation (OCC).
