CoStar claims Zillow is on a ‘crusade against consumers’

Zillow may have claimed that CoStar is “weaponizing litigation,” but CoStar claims that Zillow is completely ignoring and even “rewriting” some of the allegations it has made in its copyright infringement lawsuit. Filed in late July, the lawsuit accuses Zillow of “rampant” copyright infringement of listing photos. The complaint claims that Zillow’s unauthorized use of CoStar images amounts to one of the largest real estate image infringement cases in history. Early last week, Zillow filed two letters addressed to the judge overseeing the case. In these letters, Zillow requests that the case be transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, and it requests a pre-motion conference on Zillow’s motion to dismiss the case. CoStar snaps back In its own letter response filed on Friday, CoStar claims that Zillow’s alleged “mass copyright infringement” is part of its attempt to expand its national online rental listings business. “As Zillow now tells it, Zillow’s users, and not Zillow itself, have unlawfully copied and displayed CoStar’s images. This is a dramatic distortion of CoStar’s complaint. As CoStar alleges, Zillow copies and displays CoStar images to build ‘unclaimed’ property pages,” the filing states. “With CoStar’s images as a draw, Zillow thereby invites property owners to ‘claim’ a property and purchase rental listing advertisements. After a user ‘claims’ a property and purchases an ad, Zillow provides the same CoStar images for display in a Zillow.com listing.” CoStar adds that Zillow does not just display these images on its site, but on its branded websites like StreetEasy and sites it has syndication deals with Redfin and Realtor.com. “On top of all [of] this, Zillow uses CoStar images to drive core website features: Zillow analyzes real estate photos to provide ‘Zestimates’ of sale and rental values and extracts image features to analyze user behavior and provide recommendations,” the letter states. CoStar contends that Zillow’s most recent letter ignores “many of these key allegations while rewriting others.” They also defend their claims for direct copyright infringement and vicarious infringement, which the Andy Florance-helmed firm feels “more than suffice,” and should survive a motion to dismiss. “Zillow’s anti-customer crusade continues. Its latest court filing blames its own customers, property owners and managers, for Zillow’s mass infringement,” Gene Boxer, CoStar Group’s general counsel, said in a statement. “This anti-consumer reflex is part of a pattern. In recent weeks Zillow has been sued by a class of its customers for fraud in connection with its lead-diversion business model; by Compass for restricting broker and consumer choice; by the FTC for reducing competition and harming consumers by entering into a sham partnership; and by five States for doing the same. Yet Zillow is always ready to play the victim card.” Zillow has not yet returned HousingWire’s request for comment.