Zillow Threatens To Sue Blogger For Using Its Photos For Parody (theverge.com)

Kate Wagner is facing potential legal charges by real estate Zillow for allegedly violating the site's terms of service by reproducing images from their site on her blog. Wagner's blog is called McMansion Hell -- a Tumblr blog that "highlights the absurdity of giant real estate properties and the ridiculous staging and photography that are omnipresent in their sales listings," writes Natt Garun via The Verge. From the report: A typical McMansion Hell blog post will have a professional photo of a home and / or its interior, along with captions scattered throughout by Wagner. She also adds information about the history and characteristics of various architecture styles, and uses photos from the likes of Zillow and Redfin to illustrate how so many real estate listings inaccurately use the terms. Under each post, Wagner adds a disclaimer that credits the original source of the images and cites Fair Use for the parody, which allows for use of copyrighted material for "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research." In a cease and desist letter to Wagner, Zillow claims Wagner's reproduction of these images do not apply under the Copyright Act. Additionally, the company claims McMansion Hell may "[interfere] with Zillow's business expectations and interests." As a result of the potential lawsuit, Wagner has temporarily taken McMansionHell.com down. In a statement to The Verge, Zillow said: "Zillow has a legal obligation to honor the agreements we make with our listing providers about how photos can be used. We are asking this blogger to take down the photos that are protected by copyright rules, but we did not demand she shut down her blog and hope she can find a way to continue her work."

Comments

Hilarious Zillow steals photos itself

[Anonymous Coward]

I had my house photos from a Craigslist ad suddenly appear in a zillow listing WITH my copyright notice on them(!). I attempted to contact Zillow with no success. Zillow seems pretty one-sided (aka crooked) if they suddenly find "their" photos valuable while they automatically seek out and siphon photos from other sites without permission.

Re:Thoughts on it...

[Theaetetus]

Too bad I had mod points yesterday instead of today, I'd upvote you.

Thank you. Honestly, I feel a little bad for Zillow (having used them only a couple months ago in buying my house). They've got a brand new general counsel who only started there a month ago, and who, as his first public action, proverbially sets fire to their front lawn. Between the fact that Wagner is obviously in the right, legally, and that she's an absolutely perfect defendant - JHU grad student, humorous in exactly the politically right ways, with a great "local girl makes good" backstory - this is a case that everyone from the EFF to Popehat to NYCL to giant law firms with pro bono departments will be slavering over. "Goliath extractive real estate middle-man attacks sweet, funny grad student" is the sort of case you hope they keep appealing all the way to the Supreme Court at every loss.

Re:Last I checked...

[dgatwood]

It's a shame that since fair use is actually a part of copyright law, that those who attempt to suppress fair use do not get charged with copyright infringement, and all the penalties it entails.

Actually, in many states, they would. When a company uses a lawsuit to silence its critics (or, in this case, critics of its clients), that is considered malicious(/wrongful) prosecution, a.k.a. a SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation). There's nothing preventing the courts from awarding punitive damages against a company engaging in that behavior. That's why competent legal departments don't play games like this.