Suite, State Street Corp, Currenex reach settlement in copyright infringement lawsuit
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of the New York Southern District Court has dismissed the case after the parties indicated a settlement was reached.
A copyright infringement lawsuit targeting Currenex, Inc., State Street Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiary State Street Global Markets LLC, officially came to an end on July 26, 2018, as Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of the New York Southern District Court signed an Order dismissing the case.
The order was issued about a month after the plaintiff – Suite LLC, a vendor of quantitative financial analytic software, indicated that the parties continued their discussions and had successfully reached a settlement that fully resolves the action and that they had executed a settlement agreement.
The lawsuit was launched by Suite LLC in September 2017. The defendants were alleged to have infringed upon and misappropriated Suite’s intellectual property, including its source-code.
The action refers to events dating back to as early as September 2011, when Suite entered into an agreement with State Street and Currenex providing the latter with a perpetual license of Suite’s ALib Analytic Library (ALib), analytical software. The license was limited to State Street’s and Currenex’s use and precluded resale or sharing with third parties.
Currenex and State Street allegedly distributed Suite’s copyrighted, confidential software and source-code to third parties, including an existing customer of Suite, “TradingScreen,” and a competitor of Suite, Frost, without the consent or authorization of Suite, thus breaching the confidentiality provision and the restrictions stipulated in the contract. In particular, Frost distributed Suite’s copyrighted source-code and software (that was licensed to State Street) directly to TradingScreen.
Suite has sought to permanently enjoin the defendants’ copyright infringement and misappropriation of Suite’s trade secrets; and to recover its damages arising from the defendants’ acts as well as punitive damages.
The defendants have responded to the accusations by stating that Suite is simply “unhappy with the deal it negotiated”, and that it is ignoring express contract terms.
The action, including all claims asserted in it, is now dismissed with prejudice and without costs or attorney’s fees as to any party.
