Dye & Durham Ltd. stock tumbled 12.5 per cent Thursday after Canada’s Competition Bureau revealed it was investigating alleged anti-competitive conduct by the Toronto real estate software firm.
The bureau obtained an order from the Federal Court this week compelling D&D, which provides software used by real estate legal professionals to process transactions, to turn over information to advance its investigation into alleged anti-competitive conduct that might restrict trade practices. D&D has sparked outcry over its practice of buying dominant players in the legal services software market and dramatically hiking prices. Dozens of outraged clients complained to the bureau in 2021 after D&D increased prices by up to 563 per cent, while two customers tried to launch a class action lawsuit, which was tossed out by an Ontario Superior Court judge. But there was little they could do other than pass on the higher fees to their clients.
In fact, the bureau’s application to the court focuses on concerns that D&D has refused to permit rival vendors to establish interoperability with its software, locks customers into product bundles and might limit their ability to export data when they want to switch to a competitor. The application says rivals have experienced hindered growth as a result.