CoStar Group has achieved victory in the final round of the battle between the Homes.com parent company and Movementthe parent company of Realtor.com.
In a preliminary ruling released Monday, Judge George H. Wu of United States District Court for the Central District of California has denied Move’s motion for preliminary injunction and limited expedited discovery in its trade secrets lawsuit against CoStar.
“The Court is not convinced that Move has established by evidence probable and threatened irreparable harm, even though it may demonstrate past abuse on Kaminsky’s part,” Wu wrote in his ruling.
“As such, the Court need not consider Defendants’ alternative arguments that Move’s alleged slow steps in seeking injunctive relief further demonstrate that there is no threat of irreparable harm or that the information contained in the alleged trade secrets is ‘outdated’ or ‘old’. outdated’ and therefore has no risk to the future use of CoStar. Move has not “clearly demonstrated” that it should be granted the “extraordinary” and “drastic” remedy of a preliminary injunction. Move’s motion is rejected.”
Wu also wrote that Move “has not developed any factual evidence to support the requisite threat of immediate, irreparable harm.” The judge also addressed Move’s failure to investigate with James Kaminsky, the employee at the center of the legal battle, and characterized the inconsistencies with Kaminsky’s initial account of events as “minor /trivial’.
In an emailed statement to HousingWireGene Boxer, general counsel for CoStar Group, wrote that the company was “grateful” that the court “saw through Move’s false claims.”
“In a strongly worded opinion, the Court underlines what CoStar has been saying all along: Move’s case is based on unfounded speculation, not on facts. In today’s ruling, the Court repeatedly noted that Move had refused to accept discovery even when offered the opportunity. That’s because the truth is an anathema in Move’s case,” Boxer wrote.
“On the contrary, Move preferred to spread a baseless story that used CoStar Move documents, when there was no evidence whatsoever to support that claim. As we’ve said from the start, this case – which Move has tried to weaponize in the press – is a PR stunt in response to Move’s market failure.
“Homes.com, based on a ‘your listing, your lead’ model that is both broker and consumer friendly, is moving faster past Move’s failing Realtor.com site. Move’s baseless claim for relief, which failed today, cannot change that reality. The court’s ruling on Move’s interim injunction should put an end to this dispute. However, if Move continues to file this baseless claim in court, we will fight this dispute on the merits and win.”
In an emailed statement, a Realtor.com spokesperson wrote that this ruling was just “one step in the process.”
“We look forward to the discovery period and to our day in court,” the spokesperson wrote.
The lawsuit was initially filed in early July and centers on Kaminsky, a former Realtor.com employee who joined Homes.com after being fired by the Move subsidiary. In the lawsuit, Move alleges that Kaminsky stole documents and trade secrets from Realtor.com, which he then provided to CoStar to fuel Homes.com’s rapid growth.
