Court Dismisses Counterclaims Against Yardi Systems

Goleta-based Yardi Systems, Inc., said this week a federal court has dismissed all counterclaims filed against the South Coast real estate software company by RealPage, Inc. for antitrust violations and interference with RealPage customers.

Meanwhile, 350-employee Yardi said it has bought Dallas-based Multifamily Insurance Group to offer renters insurance, among its other services including providing property management software for companies with large apartment inventories.

In an intellectual property suit filed by Yardi against RealPage on January 24, Yardi alleged Texas-based RealPage gained unauthorized access to the Goleta firm’s internal systems, has downloaded copyrighted and trade secret documentation, price lists, and other confidential information, and illegally maintains copies of Yardi’s software on RealPage’s systems.

RealPage has admitted accessing Yardi’s internal Web site and downloading information. Yardi’s claims against RealPage are proceeding through legal discovery. Trial is set for August 12, 2012.

Yardi officials said they believe RealPage’s intellectual property violations are undermining its right. Yardi has more than 70 interface partners, including RealPage, who provide services and functions that complement Yardi Voyager.

The South Coast Biz Blog is a roundup of the latest business news in the Santa Barbara area and is written by Ray Estrada, who has covered business in the region for numerous publications over the past couple decades. See more at independent.com/biz and wordpress.com/southcoastbizblog.