Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) has blocked Zillow (NASDAQ: Z, ZG) from accessing its licensed listing data feeds for display on Zillow’s consumer-facing websites.
Chicago Agent Magazine reports the action followed Zillow’s federal antitrust lawsuit against MRED and Compass (NYSE: COMP). In that lawsuit, Zillow claimed the companies threatened to terminate its Chicago-area listings unless Zillow agreed to display Compass’ private listings nationwide. Zillow’s policies prohibit private listings on its platforms.
“This is the first time in MRED’s history it has ever claimed authority over listings outside its traditional service area,” said Zillow in a statement. “MRED cut off every Chicago broker’s access to Zillow’s audience over a handful of Compass listings in states MRED has never operated in. And it changed its own rules just to make it happen, at Reffkin’s demand,” the latter a reference to Robert Reffkin Compass’ chief executive.
For its part, MRED accused Zillow of “attempting to impose” its own display rules on listings marketed under MRED policies.
“Rules enforcement is the most important and difficult responsibility an MLS undertakes on behalf of the cooperative marketplace,” says Rebecca Jensen, president and CEO of MRED. “Our rules apply equally to every participant, and we have a duty to educate our participants and vendors, counsel them when they are out of compliance, and require that breaches be cured.”
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