The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected CoStar Group’s request to dismiss antitrust claims filed by real estate data provider Commercial Real Estate Exchange in a long-standing dispute between the two rival companies.
Here are some details:
* The judges ruled without comment, upholding a lower appeals court decision that allowed CREXi to proceed with its lawsuit.
* CREXi is seeking unspecified damages for loss of revenue and profits. It alleges that CoStar violated antitrust law by requiring real estate brokers to use its data platforms and by preventing its rivals from accessing essential web tools.
* CoStar denied any wrongdoing, stating that it had no obligation to provide its competitors with access to its websites and databases.
* California-based company CREXi made its antitrust allegations as counterclaims against CoStar in a copyright lawsuit that CoStar filed against CREXi in 2020.
* CoStar’s ongoing lawsuit accuses CREXi of deliberately copying tens of thousands of real estate property photos from CoStar as part of an extensive copyright infringement scheme.
* CoStar stated in a release that CREXi’s antitrust counterclaims are only a sideshow to CoStar’s underlying complaints against CREXi for massive copyright infringement and that these allegations will not delay the copyright infringement lawsuit.
