Jury holds Amrock liable for $706m in IP dispute against HouseCanary

Amrock has been hit with a $706.2 million liability after a Texas state court jury found that the company fraudulently misappropriated real estate valuation and analytics trade secrets, proprietary systems, and data from HouseCanary.

The award of damages stems from a case filed by Amrock seeking declaratory judgment claiming breach of contract against HouseCanary. Amrock, which is part of the Quicken Loans family of companies, announced a name change in February from its previous Title Source brand.

In its statement, HouseCanary said that a review of evidence resulted in the finding that Amrock had inappropriately used its access to HouseCanary's technology and data to engage in reverse engineering and to develop its own competing analytics and software products.

Following a trial that lasted almost seven weeks, the jury found that Amrock had misappropriated HouseCanary's trade secrets, engaged in fraud, and breached its prior contracts with HouseCanary.

Amrock CEO Jeff Eisenshtadt said the company will appeal the award. Contrary to the jury’s findings, Eisenshtadt said Amrock filed the contract claim after HouseCanary failed to keep a number of promises.

“However, when we asked the court to intervene, a local attorney and professional plaintiff law firm spun a distorted and twisted counterclaim narrative leading a San Antonio jury to an unconscionable result,” Eisenshtadt said.

“The jury's decision defies logic; Amrock never received any working software from HouseCanary, instead receiving wireframes and half-developed apps that were completely unusable by the company. After HouseCanary breached its contract, we ended our relationship with the company and were forced to develop our own tool in-house,” he added.