CoStar and LoopNet Settle Their Differences on Copyright Issue

BETHESDA, MD-Nearly four years after filing a lawsuit based on copyright infringement, commercial real estate information services provider CoStar Group Inc. has settled its case against SanFrancisco, CA-based commercial real estate services provider LoopNet Inc. CoStar had claimed that LoopNet violated copyright laws by allowing its property-listing clients to post on its website upwards of 300 photographs–many of which were taken by professional photographers hired as CoStar employees or freelance contractors–from the CoStar database.

In response to the suit, LoopNet had countered that in using the photographs, it was shielded by the safe harbor protection rights as provided by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Despite the legal contentions, the two companies have been working side-by-side for the last few years to locate and remove infringing photos from the LoopNet website. The settlement calls for the two companies to continue to work together to institute procedures to prevent future infringements on CoStar’s photographic rights via the LoopNet site. “We applaud the steps being taken by both firms to prevent future abuses from occurring, and we believe the users of both LoopNet and CoStar will benefit from these efforts,” says LoopNet CEO Richard Boyle.