The following is excerpted from a December 1, 2011 Research Affiliates press release published at The Wall Street Journal's Market Watch:
Research Affiliates, LLC, announced today that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against WisdomTree Investments, Inc. and its related entities in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The lawsuit alleges that WisdomTree financial products based on fundamental factors infringe three Research Affiliates patents. In its complaint, Research Affiliates seeks an injunction requiring WisdomTree to cease using Research Affiliates' patented technology and seeks compensatory and enhanced damages for WisdomTree's infringement. The complaint also accuses WisdomTree's subadvisor, Mellon Capital Management Corp., and WisdomTree's exchange-traded fund distributor, ALPS Distributors Inc., of patent infringement.
The Research Affiliates Fundamental Index(R) methodology has received numerous awards for innovation. Historically, RAFI(R) indices have generated significant outperformance over time by using measures of a company's economic footprint and through its rebalancing process that shifts assets into the least-favored securities and out of the most-favored--and thus most expensive--securities.
Read the full press release here.
Comments