U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest has ordered the RBS unit, ABN Amro Bank NV, to stop using the Bank Trade platform owned by Complex Systems Inc. within a year. The ruling followed six years of copyright litigation. According to Bloomberg News, ABN Amro cannot use it to process any new trade finance transactions after 60 days, the judge said.
Complex Systems reported that it licensed the use of Bank Trade to ABN Amro Information Technology Services Co. in October 1997, and allowed the lender to use it because of its corporate affiliation with the license-holder and the bank lost the rights to the name ten years later.
According to Judge Forrest’s ruling, ABN Amro continued to use the software even after the suit had been filed. Chief executive of Jersey City, Gad Janay, at New Jersey-based Complex Systems, welcomed the ruling, saying “the most important thing is they should stop using the system,” according to a report by Reuters. “ABN argues that it has tried to negotiate a license but CSI has been commercially unreasonable and that this court should therefore allow ABN to use Bank Trade perpetually in exchange for a court-imposed license,” U.S. District Judge Katherine B. In New York said according to a report by Bloomberg News. “The court declines to accept these propositions.”
Attorney Michael E. Swartz said in a letter to the judge, in which he asked her to delay its implementation that ABN Amro plans to appeal the ruling. A lawyer for Complex Systems, Jeffrey Kaplan, opposed that request in a letter telling U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest her ruling already includes a delay, according to Bloomberg News. RBS is expected to appeal, according to the ruling. A hearing before Judge Forrest has been scheduled for June 5 according to Reuters. Business Week reported that RBS fell 1.8 percent to 325.2 pence in London trading yesterday.
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