A counterclaim lawsuit brought by Investment Technology Group (ITG) against Liquidnet after the latter sued for patent infringement has been dropped.
Institutional trading platform Liquidnet bought a patent infringement claim against rival ITG in 2007.
The following year ITG introduced a counterclaim for tortious interference with prospective business relations, seeking damages in excess of $200 million.
However, according to Liquidnet, in April ITG voluntarily dismissed this claim. The dismissal is with prejudice, meaning that ITG's claim cannot be asserted in the future.
Meanwhile, Liquidnet is continuing to pursue its original claim against ITG and another firm, Pulse Trading.
Seth Merrin, CEO, Liquidnet, says: "Since its initial filing, we have maintained that the counterclaim was without merit and we are pleased that it has been dismissed."
ITG insists that that the Liquidnet patent suit is without merit and that it merely dropped the counterclaim so as not to muddy the waters in the central dispute.
In a separate development, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Liquidnet a second patent related to its equity trading system.
Entitled "Electronic Securities Marketplace Having Integration With Order Management Systems" it protects Liquidnet's proprietary computer-based methods for generating liquidity for institutional block trades.