CoStar won’t fight Zillow’s request to move copyright case
Instead of opposing the transfer, CoStar General Counsel Gene Boxer said the company is looking forward to “holding Zillow to account in its own backyard.”
The copyright infringement lawsuit that CoStar filed against Zillow over the summer appears poised to head west.
In a Dec. 3 court filing, CoStar said it will not oppose Zillow's request to transfer the case from the Southern District of New York to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle.
The move was approved on Dec. 4 by Judge Edgardo Ramos, who is overseeing the case in New York.
Zillow initiated its transfer request in September, noting at the time that the majority of the case's witnesses are based near the company's headquarters in Seattle.
What CoStar had to say: CoStar General Counsel Gene Boxer said that CoStar is focused on a fast, fair decision.
"We do not oppose transfer because Zillow has admitted the Western District of Washington is where Zillow designed and operated its scheme," Boxer alleged in a statement.
"Moreover, since CoStar sued, two major class actions addressing core aspects of Zillow's business — lead diversion and the steering of consumers to high priced mortgages — are now proceeding in the same Seattle courthouse," Boxer added. "We look forward to proving our claims under Ninth Circuit law and to holding Zillow to account in its own backyard."
How we got here: In its original July 30 filing, CoStar accused Zillow of copyright infringement through its use of more than 46,000 watermarked photos owned by CoStar, the parent company of Homes.com.
Zillow later alleged that the lawsuit was "nothing more than a calculated attempt to misuse copyright law to sideline Zillow and lock in CoStar's control."
Zillow began removing the disputed images in early September. However, CoStar contends that Zillow has continued to use nearly 8,000 of the images flagged in the lawsuit, as well as over 6,000 additional CoStar-owned images.