CoStar Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP) has accused Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ: Z, ZG) of continuing to infringe on in its intellectual property despite a July lawsuit that accused the company using its copyrighted photographs without permission.
CoStar Group filed a lawsuit against Zillow in July for the infringement of nearly 47,000 images that displayed the CoStar watermark. CoStar announced that Zillow has not only failed to remove the watermarked photographs but added roughly 4,600 more and has distributed these images to its affiliate websites and its competitors Redfin and Realtor.com.
“Despite being caught red-handed blatantly stealing our copyrighted work, Zillow has double downed to exploit thousands of additional copyrighted images without any shame,” said CoStar founder and CEO Andy Florance. “Zillow’s repeated copyright infringement, combined with its lead-diversion model that is the subject of a separate lawsuit accusing Zillow of deceiving home buyers, exposes an ongoing pattern of morally questionable behavior.
CoStar Group’s General Counsel Gene Boxer added, “Zillow is building its rental business on stolen photos. Tens of thousands of them, many stamped with our watermark. That’s deliberate mass infringement. Zillow calls itself a tech company, yet supposedly it can’t spot images plainly marked with CoStar Group’s logo. That doesn’t pass the straight-face test. The truth is simple: Zillow used our watermarked images, it profited, and—stunningly—it has kept doing it. Rather than learn its lesson, it doubled down, and the infringement scheme got even larger. We look forward to holding Zillow to account.”
Zillow did not provide an immediate response to CoStar’s complaints.
Sounds like a common practice today in government and business. If you’re doing something illegal or morally wrong, DOUBLE DOWN ON IT, if mention is made that it’s not legal or morally acceptable. File a ridiculous lawsuit preemptively, if you think they’ll try to retaliate. Was that written in a book on negotiation once upon a time?
Says a lot about people/companies who do business that way.