The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Files Motion For Temporary Restraining Order And Preliminary Injunction To Prevent Launch Of ISE Gold Index

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) announced today that it had filed a motion in the U. S. District Court, Southern District of New York, for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent the anticipated launch of the recently announced ISE Gold Index (HVY). The Exchange claims in its filing that HVY is a copycat index that mimics almost exactly the PHLX Gold/Silver Index, commonly known by its symbol XAUsm. XAU, a market capitalization-weighted index, is comprised of 13 stocks representing companies involved in the gold and silver mining industry. It has been a benchmark index since established by the Exchange in 1979, used by the investing community to manage risk and to speculate about the direction of the gold and silver mining industry.

The Exchange has registered its selection of stocks in XAU as a work with the U. S. Copyright Office. In comparing the composition and weighting of the proposed ISE index, the Exchange found that it mirrored in all important respects the companies in XAU and XAU’s weighting scheme.

“We place a premium on the value of our proprietary intellectual property,” said Meyer “Sandy” Frucher, chairman and CEO of the PHLX. “Our indexes are market bellwethers for the sectors they cover, and we intend to defend vigorously our rights to prevent the use of our intellectual property without a proper license.” Frucher continued, “In the U.S., if intellectual property is not respected, then there is simply no reward for innovation.”

Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll is representing the PHLX.