The Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the number one and two derivatives exchanges in the US, have settled a patent litigation with eSpeed, a subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald, which will now allow them to trade futures electronically.

Howard Lutnick, president of eSpeed, inherited a lawsuit against the exchanges two years ago when he bought the Wagner Patent, which governs automated futures trading. Lutnick bought the patent in April 2001 for $1.75m (€1.78m) plus stock, amounting to $3m in total.