CoStar Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP) filed a lawsuit in New York federal court that accuses Zillow Group (NASDAQ: Z, ZG) of copyright infringement.
CoStar alleged that Zillow published over 46,000 of its copyright protected images, with many still bearing the CoStar watermark. The company added that Zillow’s recent partnerships with Redfin and Realtor.com – under which Zillow provided the multifamily listings on all three websites – resulted in CoStar’s images appearing on the Redfin and Realtor.com platforms.
“Zillow’s theft of tens of thousands of CoStar Group’s copyrighted photographs is nothing short of outrageous,” said Andy Florance, CoStar’s founder and CEO. “Zillow is profiting from decades of CoStar Group work and the billions of dollars we have invested. Even worse, Zillow is magnifying its infringement on Redfin and Realtor.com. If these other sites do not immediately remove our images, we will have no choice but to sue them as well. We are committed to stopping this systematic infringement and holding the wrongdoers to account.”
Zillow did not immediately comment on the lawsuit.
Finally someone is taking charge. Zillow has created nothing but problems and benefiting from realtor listings by relisting their inventory.
As a subscriber to CoStar, I have know them to put their logo on my picture. When I asked them about it, they said they do it to be sure no one else uses it. I disagreed but it was fighting an uphill battle. Now they say they never did put their logo on my pictures but I know they did!