A Delaware bankruptcy judge has ruled that Spheris Inc. cannot transfer its contract with MultiModal Technologies Inc. to a MultiModal competitor, jeopardizing Nuance Communications’ bid for Spheris’ assets.

The judge’s ruling, issued late today by telephone, leaves “stalking horse” bidder MedQuist Inc. and Atlanta-based Transcend Services Inc. still in the hunt for the Franklin-based company.

An auction originally set for Tuesday was postponed until today so the judge could rule on the matter, said a MultiModal attorney. As of 5:30 p.m., the auction was still ongoing, the attorney said.

Pennsylvania-based MultiModal filed an objection to Spheris’ sale last month, arguing that its contract prevents Spheris from transferring its service contract to a MultiModal competitor without the company’s consent.

Both MultiModal and Nuance make speech recognition software used in transcribing medical records, however MultiModal holds the contract with Spheris.