Defendant
1 case as defendant.
E*TRADE, a pioneering online brokerage, is an operating subsidiary of Morgan Stanley. Founded in 1982 in Palo Alto, California, the company is now headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. In October 2020, Morgan Stanley completed its acquisition of ETRADE Financial Corporation in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $13 billion. Prior to its acquisition, the company traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker ETFC. As of 2024, one source reported ETRADE had approximately 4,000 employees and annual revenue of $2.9 billion. The brand now operates as "E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley".
ETRADE provides a suite of financial services centered on its electronic trading platform, which serves retail investors, traders, and administrators of corporate stock plans. Its offerings include commission-free online trading of stocks, options, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The company also provides access to mutual funds, futures trading, and managed portfolios. In addition to its brokerage services, ETRADE, through its parent company's affiliates, offers digital banking services, including checking and high-yield savings accounts, which are integrated with its trading accounts.
The company's patent litigation history reflects that of an operating company defending its technology. The provided data shows E*TRADE Financial Corporation has been a defendant in one tracked patent case and has not appeared as a plaintiff. This defensive posture is typical for a technology-focused financial services firm that is a target for patent assertions, rather than an entity that actively monetizes a patent portfolio through litigation.
The single tracked case, Cyberfone Systems, LLC v. ETRADE Financial Corporation*, filed in the District of Delaware in 2011, is indicative of this trend. The plaintiff, Cyberfone Systems, LLC, was a patent assertion entity that sued a large number of companies across various industries over a patent related to entering transaction data through a telephone. The patent was later found by the courts to be directed to an abstract idea and therefore not patent-eligible.