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Spooz Software Patent Dilutes Trading Technologies' Threat to Futures ExchangesCHICAGO --(Business Wire)-- Jan. 20, 2005 -- TicketToolz Offers Exchanges, ISVs, and FCMs a Workaround to TT's Monopoly Position Over Electronic Futures Trading Spooz, Inc. (Pink Sheets: SPZI), a provider of market analysis and execution software for financial trading, today announced that it has filed provisional patents for the underlying technology of TicketToolz(TM), an add-in software package for Microsoft(R) Excel. TicketToolz allows users to design and build custom trading screens for the execution of trade orders on futures, options, and other financial instruments listed on 41 domestic and international exchanges - directly from the Excel toolbar. The launch of TicketToolz will mark a transformation in electronic trading by offering an alternative to the current monopoly position Trading Technologies International holds on the futures trading industry, providing professional and non-professional investors with total control over their analysis, tracking, and execution systems. "Spooz has long been committed to unlocking the electronic trading potential of all traders, in stark contrast to TT's approach, which is focused on maintaining their position as the only means available to pursue an efficient and popular trading technique," said Paul D. Strickland, Jr., CEO of Spooz. "TicketToolz not only provides an effective alternative for industry players currently limited to the use of TT's system, but also gives professional and non-professional traders alike the ability to design and freely exchange their own research, analysis, and trading screen templates." The filing of the TicketToolz patents comes in response to the patent granted to Trading Technologies in August 2004 for a Vertical Market Depth Indicator with electronic trading execution capabilities, otherwise known as a "ladder" in the financial community. Because these ladders have been used by the securities world for decades, Trading Technologies' patent covers only their specific application to commodities trading. The company has since mounted an aggressive patent-infringement strategy in an attempt to be the first company in history to gain a share of the transaction revenues generated by the largest futures exchanges in the world. "The filing of the TicketToolz patents protects our proprietary technologies and ensures that our system will be available for the entire financial community, from commodities traders to stock brokers to amateur traders managing their own IRAs," added Strickland. "We believe this will be a welcome change within the marketplace, as the current environment created by TT's legal strategy effectively limits the choices of all types of traders." Now armed with patents of its own, Spooz offers ISVs, FCMs, and institutional trading operations a workaround for Trading Technologies' patents on several fronts. By adding new trading-specific capabilities to Microsoft Excel, which supports over 60 languages and resides on roughly 90 percent of computers worldwide, TicketToolz offers a universally recognized standard user interface. And while Trading Technologies' patent is applicable only to the commodities market, TicketToolz provides a customizable user interface and functionality for electronic order execution of a full range of financial products including futures, stocks, mutual funds, and derivative products such as option contracts, fixed income, and government securities. Finally, Spooz's hosting of a web-based platform for the free peer-to-peer exchange of financially oriented Excel-based templates, including ladders designed and exchanged by the public, falls beyond Trading Technologies' patent protection. Currently, Spooz is working to integrate its technology with Patsystems, which will allow TicketToolz users to execute futures and options trades on 41 domestic and international exchanges seamlessly through their choice of dozens of different clearing firms. By the end of 2005, TicketToolz expects integration with more than 80 percent of the futures and options distribution market, providing millions of Excel users around the globe with direct access to the world's financial exchanges. About Spooz Spooz, Inc., a publicly traded company based in Chicago, provides a suite of solutions designed to simplify financial trading for professional hedgers and traders and non-professional trading enthusiasts alike. The company's flagship products, SpoozToolz(TM) and TicketToolz(TM), add built-in trading capabilities to the popular Microsoft(R) Excel software application, combining a customizable interface, streaming quotes, charts, technical analysis, a comprehensive historical database, and trade execution into a simple add-in that becomes part of the Excel tool bar. These Excel add-in tools provide trading and analysis screens and promote building highly customized templates that track the real-time market value of users' portfolios, asset inventories, and production using data directly from their existing accounting systems. For more information, visit www.spooz.com. TicketToolz(TM) is a trademark of Spooz, Inc.; Microsoft(R) Excel is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Forward-Looking Statements: This news release may contain forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements present management's expectations, beliefs, plans and objectives regarding future financial performance, and assumptions or judgments concerning such performance. Any discussions contained in this release, except to the extent that they contain historical facts, are forward-looking and accordingly involve estimates, assumptions, judgments and uncertainties. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those addressed in the forward-looking statements. |
