Zillow ‘brazenly’ continuing copyright violations, CoStar claims
Though most of the photos initially flagged in a July 30 lawsuit were removed, CoStar alleges Zillow is now displaying 4,618 additional CoStar-owned images.
Zillow has neglected to remove thousands of photos at the heart of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed over the summer — and has subsequently used thousands more photos without permission, CoStar alleged this week.
The parent company of Homes.com claimed in a July 30 lawsuit that Zillow was using more than 46,000 CoStar images, primarily for multifamily rental listings. At the time, CoStar said the home search giant's alleged activity amounted to "one of the largest, if not the largest, image infringement cases in history."
Two months later, "Zillow brazenly continues to display thousands of copyrighted and watermarked CoStar Group photographs and distribute them to its partners Redfin and Realtor.com," CoStar said in a Sept. 30 press release.
CoStar's allegations: Of the nearly 47,000 CoStar watermarked images flagged in the July 30 complaint, Zillow has yet to remove about 8,000, according to CoStar.
Zillow has also displayed 4,618 additional images owned by CoStar in the months since the lawsuit was filed, CoStar claims.
How we got here: CoStar's lawsuit accused Zillow of using CoStar-owned images, mostly from Apartments.com, for multifamily rental listings. The photos — many of which CoStar said featured watermarked logos that were cropped out — allegedly appeared on Zillow.com and on Redfin and Realtor.com through Zillow's rental listings syndication deals, as well as on Zillow Group-owned Trulia and HotPads.
Earlier this month, Zillow said it had started removing thousands of the photos flagged by CoStar in what a company source said was a common action taken in this kind of copyright infringement case.
What CoStar had to say: "The truth is simple: Zillow used our watermarked images, it profited, and — stunningly — it has kept doing it," CoStar Group General Counsel Gene Boxer said in the release. "Rather than learn its lesson, it doubled down, and the infringement scheme got even larger. We look forward to holding Zillow to account."