A leading provider of multiple listing service data feeds announced on Tuesday that it had sued Homes.com parent CoStar and would soon cut off the portal’s access to listings for one of the nation’s largest MLSs.
REcore Solutions, a provider of MLS data licensing service for the California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS), said that it was taking legal action against Homes.com and CoStar over what it described as a breach of contract.
The legal action centers on agreements around REcore’s fee structure that it says were created to compensate brokers who contribute listing data to the feed.
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Entities like real estate portals that monetize MLS data but don’t represent buyers and sellers are required to pay for the data. Agents and brokers working with clients do not.
Specifically, the lawsuit references Homes.com’s revenue-generating efforts to have members and homesellers pay to boost listings through the platform. It also references mailers that Homes.com sent directly to sellers, an effort that Inman covered exclusively in July.
According to REcore, Homes.com had agreed to pay approximately $2 per listing displayed on the portal in exchange for its access to the feed that provides the listings.
REcore says that “Homes.com failed to pay the full amount they agreed to.”
“After more than a year of REcore’s efforts to negotiate a resolution, the company was left with no choice but to protect MLS data and the listing brokers who supplied it by filing a lawsuit against Homes.com and CoStar,” REcore said in a statement.
REcore said it would terminate Homes.com and HomesPro data feeds that contain listings from the California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS) starting Nov. 1.
“Any listing broker that wishes to have their CRMLS listing record sent to Homes.com may contact REcore to establish a Participant’s Data Return feed,” the company continued. “The service provided will be at no cost and without restrictions on Homes.com monetization of that data.”
CoStar representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
CRMLS Vice President Edward Zorn is also the vice president of REcore, according to the filing.
When Inman covered the Homes.com direct-mail revenue campaign in July, Zorn suggested that Homes was violating IDX rules. In the complaint filed on Tuesday, REcore affirmed it views the mailers as a licensing breach.
“The breach of the limited license provided to Defendants included the use of the photographs and media that was included in the CRMLS listing record, in addition to specific portions of the listing record itself, including the text of property descriptions. Defendants did not seek or obtain permission from CRMLS, the listing brokers, or copyright holders to repurpose the listing content in printed advertising.”
REcore is asking the court for damages of at least $887,500 as well as confirmation that REcore can terminate its licensing agreement with CoStar.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
