San Antonio Councilman Manny Pelaez, who is an attorney and professional mediator, says he will personally join the legal team of a tech company which recently lost a massive lawsuit in Bexar County, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Amrock, which is owned by the same holding company that owns Quicken Loans, was recently ordered to pay more than $700 million to a California based start-up called House Canary, which claims Amrock stole its proprietary system of evaluating real estate values.
Pelaez says nothing will damage the image of San Antonio and the growth of the local tech industry more than being known as a place where so called 'patent troll' cases can be filed by out of state firms looking for a huge payday.
"This verdict provides validation that it pays--literally--for outsider companies and their predatory law firms to bring fairy-take lawsuits to our city," Pelaez said. "These cases exploit San Antonians' good faith, while also scaring away job producing businesses."
Pelaez says helping get this verdict overturned is necessary to protect 'San Antonio's economic prosperity and our efforts to brand San Antonio as a safe place to do business.'
"It is my hope that the court will reach the only logical conclusion," he said. "That is that this verdict was without merit, delivering the message that San Antonio is not a haven for trumped up claims and baseless lawsuits."
House Canary claimed it entered into an agreement with Amrock when it was known as 'Title Source' and claims it engaged in a 'sinister' plan to 'reverse engineer, recreate, and mimic' House Canary's software.'
House Canary is a leader in the field of determining the value of properties for investors, lenders, and real estate professionals.