CHICAGO, IL – December 18, 2013 — The Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated (CBOE ) announced today that a New York federal judge ruled in favor of S&P Dow Jones Indices (SPDJI) and dismissed an action brought by International Securities Exchange (ISE) that challenged SPDJI’s rights to license its indexes for use. The Court observed that ISE was trying “to litigate again the very issues that they lost in the Illinois courts,” and the Court ruled, “I hold that ISE cannot do so, that full faith and credit is to be given to the final judgment of the Illinois courts, and that ISE’s lawsuit in this court is barred.”

The ruling rejects a challenge to CBOE’s exclusive license to list options on the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average indices, and would apply to other options as to which CBOE holds an exclusive license, like the S&P 100.

“We are gratified that today’s ruling once again rejects ISE’s claims. Since ISE initiated the litigation more than seven years ago, every court at every level – including the Illinois Appellate Court, the Illinois Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court and, now, a New York Court – has rejected ISE’s attempt to trade products that are exclusively licensed to CBOE,” said CBOE Chief Executive Officer Edward T. Tilly.

“While we lament the need to defend against claims that are clearly without merit, each ruling is a victory for the rights of index providers to license their indexes as they see fit, and each ruling is a victory for product innovation,” Tilly added. “We are proud of the many innovations that have resulted from our index provider partnerships and we will continue to vigorously defend our contractual rights and the rights of index providers to choose their partners.”

“We are pleased that the Court has agreed that the ISE’s latest maneuver to circumvent the intellectual property rights of index providers is without merit,” said Alex Matturri, CEO of S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The fruitless legal actions of the ISE over the past seven years, each based on the same claim, has ended in identical results with the courts affirming the long established intellectual property rights of index providers.”

About CBOE
CBOE, the largest U.S. options exchange and creator of listed options, continues to set the bar for options and volatility trading through product innovation, trading technology and investor education. CBOE Holdings offers equity, index and ETP options, including proprietary products, such as S&P 500 options (SPX), the most active U.S. index option, and options and futures on the CBOE Volatility Index (the VIX Index). Other products engineered by CBOE include equity options, security index options, LEAPS options, FLEX options, and benchmark products such as the CBOE S&P BuyWrite Index (BXM). CBOE Holdings is home to the world-renowned Options Institute and www.cboe.com, the go-to place for options and volatility trading resources.

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Analyst Contact:
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koopman@cboe.com

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