Zillow Begins Removing Alleged Copyright Infringing Images Amid CoStar Lawsuit

Zillow has begun removing images from its sites in response to a copyright infringement lawsuit brought against the portal by rival CoStar Group.

CoStar sued Zillow for alleged copyright infringement in July, accusing its rival of using over 46,000 CoStar-branded images on Zillow's site (and those of syndication partners Redfin and Realtor.com) over 250,000 times.

Zillow has until 30 September to respond to the lawsuit, and has yet to make any official comment on it, but the deletion of the impacted images was described as 'standard procedure' by a company source, as reported by Real Estate News.

CoStar branded Zillow's copyright infringement as "rampant" in its lawsuit, suggesting both that the case could expose Zillow to damages in excess of a billion dollars while also being one of the largest copyright infringement cases in history.

"There is no question that Zillow’s misconduct is deliberate," stated CoStar's press release in July. "Zillow has engaged in rampant copyright infringement. [It] could hardly be more brazen."

"Zillow knowingly displayed tens of thousands of CoStar's watermarked photos and monetized them on its rental platform and partner network," said CoStar's general counsel Gene Boxer after news emerged that Zillow had contacted business partners about the removal of the images.

"When caught red-handed, some companies issue apologies—but Zillow tries to hide its wrongdoing. This belated scramble also proves that Zillow has always had the power to decide what shows up on its sites. It chose to infringe because it made money doing so. We look forward to holding Zillow to account for its mass infringement."