CoStar sues Zillow for copyright infringement over thousands of real estate photos, including Long Island listings
A laptop displays Zillow’s real estate search platform. CoStar Group filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday accusing Zillow of copyright infringement over nearly 47,000 listing photos, including some from Long Island apartment complexes. Credit: Bloomberg/Gabby Jones
CoStar Group, owner of Apartments.com, sued Zillow on Wednesday, alleging the company posted nearly 47,000 copyrighted real estate listing photos — including images of Long Island apartment buildings.
The lawsuit is the latest legal battle between rivals competing for home shoppers’ attention online.
CoStar said in its lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, that Zillow’s alleged misuse of its images undermines its ability to stand out from competitors, particularly in the market for apartment rental listings. The Arlington, Virginia-based company said Zillow also shared the copyrighted photos with real estate websites Realtor.com and Redfin, according to the suit.
“Zillow’s theft of tens of thousands of CoStar Group’s copyrighted photographs is nothing short of outrageous,” CoStar Group CEO Andy Florance said in a statement. “Zillow is profiting from decades of CoStar Group work and the billions of dollars we have invested.
Zillow did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
The list of 46,979 images that CoStar says Zillow improperly posted includes several Long Island apartment complexes and condo buildings, including:
- Gracewood Estates in Islip
- Fairfield Maples at Bay Shore
- Fairfield Knolls North at Port Jefferson in Port Jefferson Station
- Hawthorne Living in Central Islip
- The Villas at Setauket in East Setauket
- Maestro in Great Neck
- Spruce Towers in Great Neck
- Valley Park Estates in Valley Stream
Online real estate giants clash
The lawsuit pits two of the nation’s largest online real estate marketplaces against each other as they compete to attract consumers and real estate brokers.
CoStar said its real estate websites — which also include Homes.com and LoopNet — averaged 104 million monthly unique visitors during the first quarter. Zillow, the nation's largest real estate website, reported 227 million average monthly users during the same period.
The case comes as Zillow faces another industry feud in federal court. Compass, a real estate brokerage with 19 offices on Long Island, sued Zillow over a policy that took effect June 30 banning listings from its platform that were publicly marketed for more than a day but not listed on a multiple listing service.
The legal dispute is unlikely to have a noticeable effect on consumers, said Rob Hahn, a Las Vegas-based real estate market analyst. He views the lawsuit as CoStar leveraging its investments in real estate photography to force Zillow to take down certain images, potentially hurting the website's traffic.
"It's an incredibly powerful tool to take down competitors," Hahn said of CoStar's copyrighted photos.
CoStar previously won a major judgment in a federal copyright case. In 2019, the company CoStar won a $500 million judgment against the now-defunct real estate listing platform Xceligent after federal regulators found the company had more than 38,000 copyrighted images from CoStar in its systems. The bankrupt company later agreed to pay CoStar about $10.8 million.
Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain's New York Business.
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