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A week after Move, Inc released their forensic analysis of former Realtor.com editor James Kaminsky’s work computer in an amended preliminary injunction request, CoStar Group has fired back with a 22-page motion requesting California District Judge George H. Wu to deny their rival’s request.
The motion rebuffs Move’s forensic analysis of James Kaminsky’s work computer, which revealed Kaminsky accessed and transferred 40 Move-owned documents allegedly containing online traffic, advertising and lead generation tactics during his final days working for the company. The motion also denies claims Kaminsky shared those files with CoStar to boost Homes.com’s search engine optimization strategy and website traffic.
CoStar’s counsel said the News & Insights files Kaminsky “minimally accessed” after leaving Move cannot be classified as trade secrets due to the fact that the publication schedules and information about popular content is now “largely stale” and “publicly available or readily ascertainable.” Move employee titles and salaries can also easily be found on Glassdoor and LinkedIn, the filing said.
“Not only are the documents underlying Move’s motion not trade secrets, they were not protected by Move as such,” the filing read. “The plaintiff did not protect information despite existence of “two password and user ID-protected systems, limiting employees’ access to [the] data, encrypting the data, requiring two-factor authentication to access the data, and separately storing the data on its own server that is password protected and limited”). Nor can Move justify it failure to secure its Google platform.”
A forensic expert also verified Kaminsky never shared any of the disputed files with CoStar, they said, eliminating the need for a preliminary injunction.
“Move cannot identify any change CoStar has made to its business or damage it has suffered as a result of Kaminsky’s access to the five Move documents; and CoStar’s Homes.com outperformed Realtor.com for months prior to Kaminsky joining CoStar,” the filing read. “There is no mystery why Move is seeking to enjoin CoStar from using documents it has not used: Move’s Realtor.com is losing market share to CoStar’s Homes.com … That Move’s desperate times have given rise to such desperate measures does not warrant injunctive relief.”
Gene Boxer | Credit: CoStar
In an emailed statement to Inman, CoStar Group General Counsel Gene Boxer continued to characterize Move’s lawsuit as “a PR stunt” and “speculative nonsense.”
“To be clear, CoStar has never had interest in Realtor.com’s strategies or alleged trade secrets, as its ‘lead diversion’ tactics are anathema to Homes.com’s agent and user-friendly ‘your listing, your lead’ model,” he said. “Move’s lawsuit is based on false, and now shifting, premises.”
“To start, Move filed a case accusing CoStar of using Move documents to build a rival news business. This accusation was completely false, as we said publicly at the time. Nothing more than a PR stunt,” he added. “As Move knows, CoStar doesn’t have any of those documents, and certainly hasn’t used them … Move then tried to salvage its case with an even weaker new theory: admitting that — in fact — no one at CoStar is using any stale Move documents, but maybe, just maybe, an employee who edits descriptions of New York condos might use documents he doesn’t have, to do a job he doesn’t have: directing CoStar’s search engine optimization. This is speculative nonsense.”
A Realtor.com spokesperson declined to comment on Move’s latest filing, noting the company doesn’t make statements on “pending litigation.”
Judge Wu will make a ruling on Move’s amended preliminary injunction and limited expedited discovery request on Sept. 23.
Read the full filing below:
Email Marian McPherson