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Two weeks after filing a theft of trade secrets lawsuit against competitor CoStar Group, Realtor.com parent company Move, Inc. has asked a judge in California to block CoStar Group’s access to files at the center of the lawsuit.
Move’s attorneys filed the preliminary injunction on Monday with Judge Steve Kim of the U.S. District Court in California, asking the court to block CoStar Group and former Realtor.com News and Insights Editor James Kaminsky’s access to Move-owned files outlining core information about Realtor.com’s N and I editorial budget, audience and revenue numbers, alongside employment summaries for several Move employees.
Move said Kaminsky accessed those files at least 37 times after taking a position as an editor at Homes.com in January. Move wasn’t aware of Kaminsky’s alleged actions until June 3, when a Move employee got an alert that Kaminsky’s Gmail account had opened a core file for the Realtor.com News and Insight team. Move then barred Kaminsky’s Gmail address.
In addition to the preliminary injunction, Move’s counsel also wants CoStar Group to provide a list of electronic devices (e.g., desktop computer, laptop computer, cell phone) Kaminsky has used since joining Homes.com. Move also asked for a forensic inspection of said devices.
“Move easily meets the standards for entry of a preliminary injunction and for an order authorizing limited expedited forensic discovery,” the injunction request read. “With an appropriately crafted Order, the Court can help Move stop further misappropriation of trade secrets, ensure unauthorized access to its computer systems has stopped, prevent more spoliation, and determine where Move’s stolen information has been sent.”
Gene Boxer | Credit: CoStar
In an email to Inman, CoStar Group General Counsel Gene Boxer characterized the preliminary injunction as “a knee-jerk filing” and another “PR stunt” from Realtor.com as competition heats up between the two residential portal behemoths.
“Last week, we noted that plaintiffs with real concerns about trade secrets file for injunctions when they file complaints, and that Move had not, and we predicted that now that we had called them out, they would file such a motion,” Boxer said in a statement to Inman. “That’s exactly what happened. Realtor.com’s motion confirms that they’re using a mid-level employee as a pawn and that they have zero evidence of any involvement by CoStar. None.”
Inman also contacted Realtor.com; however, a company spokesperson said, “[Realtor.com] doesn’t comment on pending litigation.”
The lawsuit is the latest chapter in Move and CoStar Group’s battle over which residential portal can rightfully claim the second-place spot during a pivotal point in a years-long portal war.
CoStar Group caught the industry’s attention in October 2023 when the company announced its residential portal, Homes.com, had drawn 100 million monthly unique visitors in September — a metric that meant Homes.com had grown its traffic by 117 percent in one month.
Despite questions about the correctness of those claims, CoStar Group and Homes.com quickly leaned into messaging about surpassing Realtor.com as the second-most trafficked portal in the U.S., putting $1 billion into a star-studded marketing blitz to drive traffic and memberships to the site.
CoStar Group founder and CEO Andy Florance and Realtor.com CEO Damian Eales spent much of the first quarter of 2024 delivering slight jabs at each other. Both leaders embraced competition and touted the strength of their respective platforms during their Inman Connect New York appearances; however, the stakes have heightened since then.
Eales began putting additional pressure on Florance and CoStar Group in May, using his time at the National Association of Realtors MLS Forum of the Realtors Legislative Meetings to lambast CoStar Group for casting Homes.com Network traffic figures as Homes.com traffic figures.
In July, Move took Eales’ concerns to the Better Business Bureau National Programs’ National Advertising Division, which recommended that CoStar stop using “Homes.com just reached 156M monthly unique visitors” and “Homes.com now has DOUBLE Realtor.com’s traffic” in its ads as both claims are based on traffic for the Homes.com Network.
CoStar Group acquiesced to NAD’s recommendations, with recent advertising highlighting Homes.com’s 100 million monthly unique visitors. The company can still highlight traffic numbers for the Homes.com Network if they “explicitly disclose it in the body of its advertisements.”
The Court will decide on the preliminary injunction during a hearing on Aug. 14.
