Move
Inc.,
the
parent
company
of


Realtor.com,
is
suing


CoStar
Group,
the
parent
company
of
rival


Homes.com,
over
the
alleged
theft
of
portal
data
and
documents.

In
a
complaint
filed
on
Tuesday
in
U.S.
District
Court
in
California,
Move
alleges
that
James
Kaminsky,
a
former
employee
who
now
works
for
CoStar,
stole
trade
secrets
to
help
fuel
the

rapid
growth
of
Homes.com.

“There
is
nothing
wrong
with
lawful
—
even
intense
—
competition,”
the
complaint
states.
“But
competitors
should
never
be
allowed
to
cheat
and
steal
to
get
ahead.”

Move
alleges
that
Kaminsky
accessed
Realtor.com
documents
through
June
of
this
year
without
being
detected,
despite
leaving
the
firm
in
January
and
joining
CoStar
in
March.
According
to
the
complaint,
Kaminsky
accessed
information
from
Realtor.com
“at
least
37
times
after
CoStar
hired
him,”
violating
federal
and
state
computer
fraud
laws
to
do
so.

The
documents
that
Move
claims
Kaminsky
accessed
include
information
about
content
planned
for
Realtor.com;
ideas
for
future
stories;
metrics
showing
user
traffic;
a
list
of
contacts;
lists
of
Realtor.com
employees
and
their
compensation;
and
other
private
business
information.

Kaminsky
worked
for
Realtor.com
for
nine
years,
heading
up
its
news
and
insights
group.
He
departed
the
firm
in
January
and
joined
CoStar
two
months
later,
where
he
currently
serves
as
an
editor,
according
to
his

LinkedIn
page.
In
the
complaint,
Move
claims
that
in
his
new
role,
Kaminsky
is
leading
a
team
of
writers
that
are
building
a
product
similar
to
Realtor.com’s,
which
Move
says
is
an
integral
part
of
Realtor.com’s
marketing
strategy.

“As
he
departed
Move,
Mr.
Kaminsky
stole
confidential
business
information,
sending
it
to
his
personal
email
account
on
the
last
day
he
had
access
to
Move’s
computer
system.
He
established
surreptitious,
undetected
ongoing
access
to
allow
himself
(and,
thus,
CoStar)
to
spy
on
Move’s
highly
confidential
documents
stored
on
protected
computer
systems,”
the
complaint
states.
“Then,
attempting
to
cover
his
tracks,
Mr.
Kaminsky
deleted
nearly
a
thousand
files
from
his
Move
computer
and
wiped
clean
his
entire
browsing
history
before
returning
the
device
to
Move.

“The
goal,
obviously,
is
to
help
CoStar
unlawfully
jumpstart
the
creation
of
a
‘monetization
engine’
for
CoStar
by
driving
up
website
visitor
numbers
and
increasing
revenue
and
profits
for
CoStar,”
the
complaint
continued.

This
is
the
latest
development
in
what
has
become
a
long-running
feud
between
Homes.com
and
Realtor.com.
The
two
have
spent
the
past
several
months
debating
who
holds
the
title
of
second-largest
listing
portal
behind

Zillow,
with
Realtor.com
alleging
that
Homes.com’s
claims
that
it
is
the

No.
2
portal
in
terms
of
traffic
and
impressions
are
false.

The
legal
complaint
reiterated
many
of
these
arguments.

“According
to
every
independent
third-party
source
Move
can
identify
—
such
as

Comscore,

Nielsen,

Similar
Web,
or

SEM
Rush
—
Realtor.com
has
for
years
been
the
second
most-visited
residential
real
estate
listings
website
in
the
United
States,
behind
Zillow
and
ahead
of
Redfin,”
Move’s
complaint
states.
“By
every
independent
third-party
measure,
Homes.com
is
last
among
the
top
four.”

The
firm
is
seeking
damages
and
a
jury
trial.

“This
lawsuit
is
Realtor.com’s
latest
desperate
attempt
to
distract
from
the
fact
that
Homes.com
has
replaced
Realtor.com
as
the
number
two
portal
according
to
the
parties’
own
site-centric
data
gathering
tools,”
Gene
Boxer,
CoStar’s
general
counsel,
wrote
in
an
email.
“The
employee
in
question
is
a
mid-level
manager
who
writes
and
edits
stories
about
condos.
Safe
to
say
he
has
zero
input
into
Homes.com’s
strategy.
And
even
Move’s
creative
writing
exercise
doesn’t
pretend
that
CoStar
itself
engaged
in
any
misconduct.
This
is
a
PR
stunt
that
is
already
backfiring.
Realtor.com
is
losing
the
battle
with
Homes.com
and
its
attempt
to
change
the
story
doesn’t
change
that
reality.
We
look
forward
to
prevailing
in
court.” 

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