Quant Giant Hits Snag With Bid to Protect Speedy Algorithm (2)

Renaissance Technologies LLC’s quest to legally protect a valuable trading program that helps it outrun the competition has hit a snag in London.

The U.S. fund was denied a British patent for the computer system that enables it to synchronize trades across multiple exchanges at the same time. On Friday the quant giant, one of the industry’s most successful hedge funds, went to a London court in a bid to overturn the decision.

Renaissance has been trying to get patents for the similar systems in the U.K. and the U.S. since at least 2015. The invention consists of not only ...