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The legal battle between Realtor.com and CoStar’s Homes.com has escalated to the courts.
Move, Inc., the parent company of Realtor.com, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in California on Tuesday, alleging that a former Move employee now working at CoStar stole trade secrets that helped Homes.com become a leading real estate portal.
The lawsuit comes after a long-standing rivalry between the two portals, with Homes.com claiming a major traffic milestone in March that Realtor.com has contested.
In the complaint, Move accused Homes.com of fabricating claims about its traffic numbers and alleged that CoStar’s CEO had made misleading statements about Homes.com’s ranking in the industry.
Move claimed that a former employee, James Kaminsky, who left Move to work at CoStar, illegally accessed confidential information from Realtor.com to benefit Homes.com’s growth.
Both companies have exchanged statements, with CoStar dismissing the lawsuit as a distraction and Move asserting that Homes.com’s rise was fueled by unfair practices.
The lawsuit sheds light on the competition for web traffic among real estate portals, with both companies vying for the attention of consumers and professionals in the industry.
The ongoing feud between Realtor.com and Homes.com has intensified with CoStar’s aggressive advertising campaign and Realtor.com’s challenge to Homes.com’s traffic claims.
According to Move, independent sources consistently rank Realtor.com as the second most-visited real estate listings website in the U.S., ahead of Homes.com and other competitors.
Move is pursuing unspecified damages in a jury trial.
Click here to read the complete complaint.
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