CoStar vs. Zillow: Copyright Infringement Dispute Escalates

CoStar accuses Zillow of continuing to use copyrighted images despite a lawsuit. The dispute involves thousands of watermarked photos allegedly used without permission on Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com.

Two months later, “Zillow brazenly remains to present thousands of copyrighted and watermarked CoStar Team photos and distribute them to its partners Redfin and Realtor.com,” CoStar stated in a Sept. 30 news release.

CoStar’s Accusations Against Zillow

What CoStar needed to state: “The fact is basic: Zillow utilized our watermarked images, it benefited, and– stunningly– it has actually maintained doing it,” CoStar Team General Counsel Genetics Fighter said in the release. “As opposed to discover its lesson, it doubled down, and the violation system got even bigger. We eagerly anticipate holding Zillow to account.”

The parent firm of Homes.com claimed in a July 30 legal action that Zillow was using more than 46,000 CoStar pictures, mostly for multifamily rental listings. At the time, CoStar said the home search titan’s alleged task totaled up to “one of the biggest, otherwise the biggest, photo violation situations in background.”

Details of the Copyright Claim

Exactly how we obtained here: CoStar’s suit accused Zillow of making use of CoStar-owned images, primarily from Apartments.com, for multifamily rental listings. The pictures– most of which CoStar stated featured watermarked logos that were chopped out– purportedly showed up on Zillow.com and on Redfin and Realtor.com via Zillow’s rental listings submission bargains, along with on Zillow Group-owned Trulia and HotPads.

Zillow has disregarded to eliminate thousands of images at the heart of a copyright violation claim submitted over the summertime– and has subsequently made use of thousands a lot more photos without authorization, CoStar alleged today.