Xceligent
In December 2016, CoStar Group filed a lawsuit against rival Xceligent, owned by London-based Daily Mail and General Trust for copyright infringement of thousands of images.[37] According to the lawsuit, Xceligent used offshore contractors in India and the Philippines to copy CoStar Group's copyrighted photographs and crop out the CoStar Group watermark.[38]. The court entered a $500 million judgement and permanent injunction against Xceligent, valuing each CoStar Group image at $50,000.[39][38]
CREXi
In September 2020, CoStar Group filed a lawsuit against rival commercial real estate marketplace, Commercial Real Estate Exchange, Inc. (CREXi).[40] The suit alleged CREXi engaged offshore contractors to copy and crop CoStar Group's copyrighted images from LoopNet, a CoStar Group website.[41] In June 2025, the court found significant evidence that CREXi and its contractors copied images from LoopNet, and that CoStar Group owned the photographs that they claimed were infringed.[42][43]
In September 2024, CoStar Group obtained a permanent injunction against CREXi's founding investor, Leon Capital LLC, for unauthorized access to CoStar's database.[44]
Simultaneously, CoStar Group filed multiple lawsuits in India against CREXi-hired contractors, known as BPOs, for assisting in the copyright infringement.[45] Those cases resulted in several judgments[46] and permanent injunctions against CREXi's offshore contractors.[47]
CREXi
In September 2020, CoStar Group filed a lawsuit against rival commercial real estate marketplace, Commercial Real Estate Exchange, Inc. (CREXi).[40] The suit alleged CREXi engaged offshore contractors to copy and crop CoStar Group's copyrighted images from LoopNet, a CoStar Group website.[41] In June 2025, the court found significant evidence that CREXi and its contractors copied images from LoopNet, and that CoStar Group owned the photographs that they claimed were infringed.[42][43]
In September 2024, CoStar Group obtained a permanent injunction against CREXi's founding investor, Leon Capital LLC, for unauthorized access to CoStar's database.[44]
Simultaneously, CoStar Group filed multiple lawsuits in India against CREXi-hired contractors, known as BPOs, for assisting in the copyright infringement.[45]
STR
In February 2024, a proposed consumer class action lawsuit was filed against CoStar Group in multiple states, accusing the company of a price-fixing conspiracy in which it conspired with a group of luxury hotel chains—including Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, InterContinental, Loews, and Accor—to keep room rental prices artificially high by sharing competitively sensitive information through the company's STR reports. These allegations were based in part on insider information shared by an STR software engineer.[48] In September 2025, the claims were dismissed by the court.[49]
Move, Inc.
In July 2024, CoStar Group was sued by competitor Move, Inc., the operator of Realtor.com, for alleged trade secret misappropriation.[50] Move sought a preliminary injunction against CoStar Group. The injunction was denied by a California federal court on the basis that Move had not provided evidence of any irreparable harm.[51] In April 2025, less than a year after filing its lawsuit, Move voluntarily dismissed the case.[52][53]
Zillow
CoStar Group sued Zillow in July 2025 for copyright infringement, including for using tens of thousands of CoStar Group's watermarked photographs on its sites, as well as syndicating those photographs on Zillow's partner sites, Redfin and Realtor.com.[54][55]
