Gold ETF Prompts Lawsuit

"He gave them the concept and some of the underlying principals of how to pull it off," says Hecht. "Then all of a sudden they decided to forget to be a trade organization and go into business for themselves and utilize Dan's ideas as the centerpiece of their business."

The defendants, meanwhile, were relatively tight-lipped ahead of the trial.

"The World Gold Council does not think the case has any merit and we will respond in court," says George Milling-Stanley, manager of investment and market intelligence at WGC in New York.

The WGC was formed in 1987 to promote gold use. Its members include many of the major miners such as Barrick Gold(ABX Quote), Newmont Mining(NEM Quote) and Goldcorp(GG Quote).