Technology

Calyx Software, San Jose, Calif., has filed for a preliminary injunction against its rival Ellie Mae, Dublin, Calif., that broadens an earlier dispute alleging that Ellie Mae committed copyright infringement.Specifically, Calyx contends that Ellie Mae's Encompass product infringes on the "structure, user interface, and look and feel" of Calyx's Point software. "We at Calyx have felt compelled to take this action against Ellie Mae in order to protect our intellectual property," said Dennis Boggs, senior vice president of business development at Calyx. "We put a great deal of work into developing the user interface in all of our software products. We feel we have to protect the value we have created." The case was filed in the Northern District of California, San Jose. The earlier copyright dispute alleged that Ellie Mae committed "copyright infringement, false designation of origin and violations of the California Unfair Competition laws." Mr. Boggs said he expects an answer to the injunction filing within six weeks and is unsure how this will affect the release of version 1.5 of Encompass planned for next month. Ellie Mae chief executive Sig Anderman calls the legal action "an act of desperation from somebody who is losing market share." Mr. Anderman said the differences between Point and Encompass are "very dramatic." The only similarities are "those that are generic and standard in the industry, like the 1003 and 1008 forms that are mandated by Fannie and the secondary market," he said.

Kirk Reese has been named chief technology officer at DocuTech Corp., a mortgage software technology company based in Idaho Falls, Idaho.Before joining DocuTech, Mr. Reese was a software and Java architect for Avaya Inc., a communications network provider, and STS HotelNet, a provider of Internet portals for the hospitality industry, DocuTech said. He was also principal software engineer for the Denver-based Boeing Co. DocuTech can be found on the Web at http://www.docutechcorp.com.

The eMortgage Alliance, a consortium of companies collaborating on the development of an end-to-end electronic mortgage system, has elected a new governance board.Dave Williamson, senior vice president of technology and strategic initiatives for The Performance Group, Concord, N.H., was elected chairman. Tom Litke, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Wellfound Technology, Atlanta, was elected vice-chairman; and Sue Cordova, senior business analyst at Framework Inc., Tarrytown, N.Y., was elected secretary and treasurer. Mr. Williamson said he hopes to increase the strength of the alliance by adding members and creating an industrywide forum to discuss the e-mortgage. Other members of the alliance are DocuTech Corp., Idaho Falls, Idaho, the founding company of the alliance; Wave eSign Systems, Lee, Mass.; SwiftView, Tualatin, Oregon; Rekon Technologies, Pasadena, Calif.; and Encomia, Houston. The alliance can be found online at http://emortgagealliance.us.

Simple Remote LLC, New York, has announced the introduction of customizable software to enable mortgage brokers and lenders to manage their deal pipeline and track contacts.Simple Remote is designed to "think in the same sequences" as a lender, but faster, more efficiently, and more productively, the company said. It is not a Web-based program, and therefore hackers have no chance to gain access. The software "creates lender and investor profiles, it matches them with appropriate properties, and it notifies the user of matches between the two," said Steven Weiss, who led the team of programmers that created the new software. "For mortgage brokers, the program can notify them of which banks offer the best deals for either the purchase or the sale of a property." The company can be found online at http://www.simpleremote.com.

David Williamson has been promoted to senior vice president of technology and strategic initiatives at The Performance Group, a consulting firm for the mortgage banking industry based in Concord, N.H.Since joining TPG in 1999, Mr. Williamson has been instrumental in core services development, system selection, and process design, the firm said. He has also managed the firm's third-party vending relationships with technology service providers and directed business development efforts. Mr. Williamson is the TPG representative to the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization.

LendingTree Inc., Charlotte, N.C., has announced an agreement with AAA to provide mortgage and home equity loans and realty services to AAA members in participating clubs.Under the partnership, LendingTree will provide qualified AAA members with multiple competitive loan offers from its network of mortgage and home equity lenders, the online loan exchange said. Eligible members who buy or sell a home using a Realtor from the LendingTree Realty Services network will receive a AAA vacation. The online exchange can be found on the Web at http://www.lendingtree.com.

Fair Isaac Corp., San Rafael, Calif., and London Bridge Software Holdings PLC, London, have announced an agreement on the terms of a recommended cash offer by Fair Isaac to acquire the ordinary shares of London Bridge.The offer will be 0.95 British pounds in cash for each issued and to-be-issued ordinary share of London Bridge, which amounts to an estimated 166.2 million British pounds (approximately $299 million), the companies reported. Fair Isaac, which produces FICO credit-risk scores used by the mortgage industry, said it believes it can "leverage London Bridge's installed base of customers for collections and recovery to deliver collections-focused scoring solutions." London Bridge's software includes The Mortgage Originator and various products related to collections, recovery, and default management. Fair Isaac can be found online at http://www.fairisaac.com.

ResMAE Financial Corp., Brea, Calif., has announced the introduction of TotalAccess, a Web-based pipeline management service for mortgage brokers.TotalAccess delivers a range of services, such as allowing brokers to: follow the progress of their loans in real time; contact key ResMAE production personnel; and request to draw documents when all conditions are met. ResMAE, which stands for Residential Mortgage Assistance Enterprise, can be found online at http://www.resmae.com.

Shawn McGowan has been named president and chief executive officer of Valocity, a Memphis-based provider of valuation systems.Mr. McGowan was most recently head of research, analysis, and implementation of strategic initiatives for eAppraiseIT, Valocity said. He is also a former senior vice president of residential appraisal operations for Strategic Mortgage Services and First American Appraisal Services. Mr. McGowan is a past chairman of the Industry Advisory Council for The Appraisal Foundation. Valocity, formerly Appraisal Forum, can be found on the Web at http://www.valocity.com.

SwiftView Inc., Portland, Ore., has entered into an agreement with Delphi Information Sciences Corp. to offer its SwiftSend LoanDocs Web-based electronic document delivery service to customers of Delphi's Discovery mortgage banking software.Discovery customers will now have the ability to electronically deliver confidential documents in an encrypted environment, SwiftView said. Delphi provides computer systems and services to the mortgage lending industry. SwiftView can be found on the Web at http:// visit http://www.swiftsend.com.