The lawsuit claims that, among other infringements, Zillow repeatedly used CoStar-owned images, some of which were subsequently sold to competitors including Realtor.com and Redfin.
Real estate information company CoStar, the owner of Homes.com and Apartments.com, has filed a lawsuit against Zillow, claiming that its competitor stole tens of thousands of copyright-protected pictures for use across different platforms.
“What Zillow has not told the public is that its growth, at least in rental properties and listings, is driven in significant part by Zillow’s widespread and systematic infringement of tens of thousands of CoStar-owned real estate images,” the lawsuit alleges.
CoStar’s top-level management has since claimed that Zillow’s purported use of copyright-sensitive information goes beyond the reuse of photographs.
“What’s been stolen here is a lot more than just the photos,” Costar founder and chief executive Andrew Florance told The New York Times in an interview. “They wanted to get into the multifamily business and they did it by using our assets and taking shortcuts.”
The lawsuit claims that, among other infringements, Zillow repeatedly used CoStar-owned images, some of which were subsequently sold to competitors including Realtor.com and Redfin.
“Zillow’s misconduct is not limited to the Zillow family of websites,” CoStar attorneys wrote.
“Through lucrative syndication agreements, Zillow is also distributing CoStar’s images to its partnership network of listing websites, hosted by Zillow’s supposed competitors, Realtor.com and Redfin,” the lawsuit says.
CoStar claims that Zillow uses its photographs in multiple other ways, including for marketing purposes. In some cases, Zillow allegedly lets registered property owners and landlords “claim” CoStar-owned photographs, with the claimed pictures then used to generate subsidiary rental listings—and, by extension, additional income.
“This results in a direct source of revenue for Zillow,” the lawsuit says.
Florance said that he plans to add Redfin and Realtor.com as co-defendants if they do not promptly remove CoStar-owned photographs from their websites and other directories.
Zillow is facing a separate, related lawsuit filed on behalf of competitor Compass.
In its complaint, Compass accused Zillow of violating federal antitrust law by effectively “gatekeeping” home lists.
Unlike CoStar’s claim, the Compass lawsuit centers on Zillow’s policy toward property listings. As a general rule, Zillow requires any home put on the market to be listed on Zillow within 24 hours. If this deadline is not met, Zillow will permanently prohibit the listing from being shown on its website as well as affiliate websites.
Sources
Company That Owns Apartments.com Sues Zillow Over Rental Listing Photos
Zillow sued by Homes.com owner CoStar for ‘massive’ copyright violations
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