Arizona
Regional
MLS
and
 Wisconsin-based Metro
MLS
are
looking
to
have
the

antitrust
lawsuit
filed
against
them
by


Zillow
Group
and

ShowingTime
dismissed.

Filed
in
late
December
2023,
the
lawsuit
alleges
that
ARMLS,
Metro
MLS
and
the
parent
company
of
showing
platform

Aligned
Showings,
MLS
Aligned,
are
“unlawfully
attempting
to
monopolize
the
market
for
real
estate
showing
management
services
in
the
geographic
regions
they
control
and
from
unlawfully
conspiring
to
exclude
or
severely
limit
ShowingTime,
their
competitor
in
those
markets.”

According
to
the
initial
complaint,
in
late
2023,

the
MLS
defendants
made
the
decision
to
only
offer
Aligned
Showings
to
their
members
instead
of
both
Aligned
Showings
and
ShowingTime,
which
had
been
offered
through
the
MLS
defendants
“for
years.”
MLS
Aligned
is
a
joint
venture
set
up
among
the
MLS
defendants
and
other
unspecified
MLSs.

On
Tuesday,
the
MLS
defendnats
filed
a
motion
to
dismiss
the
suit
with
prejudice,
writing
that
“The
Court
should
look
at
this
purported
antitrust
case
with
great
skepticism
from
the
outset.”

In
the
motion,
the
defendants
claim
that
Zillow
and
ShowingTime’s
“true
grievance
is
not
that
the
MLS
Defendants
are
engaging
in
anticompetitive
practices,
but
that ShowingTime—the
dominant
provider
of
showing
management
services
nationally—is
(ironically)
now
facing
competition
in
a
few
regions.”

According
to
the
motion,
the
complaint
is
falsely
interpreting
antitrust
law,
alleging
that
the
plaintiffs
view
competition
as
a
“mortal
threat”
and
not
a
“cornerstone
of
American
capitalism.”

“Courts
long
have
affirmed
that
the
‘central
purpose’
of
the
antitrust
laws
is
to
preserve
and
foster
competition,”
the
motion
states.
“Those
acts
that
result
in


more
competition
are
therefore
both
consistent
with,
and
further
the
basic
goals
of,
the
antitrust
laws.
Here,
however,
the
dominant
player
in
the
market
for
showing
management
services
(ShowingTime)
and
its
corporate
parent
(Zillow)
seek
to
impose
antitrust
liability
on
Defendants—and
to
recover
treble
damages,
injunctive
relief,
and
attorneys’
fees—for
alleged
injuries
that
flow
directly
from
an


increase
in
competition.”

In
their
motion,
the
defendants
state
that
their
decision
to
work
solely
with
MLS
Aligned
was
“not
the
product
of
any
collusion
of
conspiracy.”
The
defendants
state
that
in
2023,
they
made
an
independent
assessment
and
determined
that
it
was
in
their
best
interests
to
choose
to
work
with
a
different
provider.

The
motion
also
claims
that
the
complaint
doesn’t
contain
sufficient
factual
matter,
and
that
the
complaint
fails
to
allege
an
antitrust
injury
and
an
actionable
antitrust
violation.

Zillow
Group,
which

bought
ShowingTime
in
2021,
did
not
return
a
request
for
comment.

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