June 23 (UPI) -- Compass is suing Zillow over what it calls the "Zillow ban," a new rule that the real estate brokerage firm claims is meant to control home listings and crush the home search competition.
Compass filed the lawsuit against the listings giant Monday in a New York federal court. The company argues Zillow's new rule, which took effect on May 28, violates antitrust laws by forcing all listings to be published on Zillow within a day. Non-compliers are told they will be banned from the website.
"It was adopted to harm a competitive threat, it eliminates a new and innovative business model that creates competitive differentiation in the market and it reduces homeowner choice," Compass wrote in the lawsuit.
"The Zillow Ban is designed to make it hard, indeed nearly impossible, for home sellers to sell their home outside of Zillow, in an effort to force all listings to be on Zillow where Zillow makes money selling leads off the homeowners' listings," according to the complaint.
Related
