Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS) and MLS Inc. filed motions to dismiss Zillow’s antitrust lawsuit against them.
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In a lawsuit filed by listing giant Zillow, two multiple listing services companies accused by Zillow of violating antitrust laws have filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that Zillow failed to prove its claims of monopolistic activity and that the company was taking advantage of antitrust laws to attack competitors.
Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS) and MLS Inc. filed a motion to dismiss in Arizona federal court on Tuesday, asking that the complaint be dismissed with prejudice.
Zillow’s antitrust charges stem from allegations that Arizona District MLS and MLS Inc conspired to limit access to Zillow’s home showing management platform ShowingTime on its marketplace in favor of showing platform Aligned Showings, which is owned by MLS Aligned, a multi-company consortium) launched last year. Listing Services.
Zillow noted in its initial complaint that two MLSs operating in the Phoenix and Milwaukee areas planned to disable integration with ShowingTime, effectively leaving agents in those areas with no choice but to use Aligned Showings, which amounts to Trying to, as Zillow puts it, create a local monopoly. It also believes that multiple MLSs chose not to renew their contracts with ShowingTime at the same time, constituting a monopoly conspiracy.
ARMLS and MLS Inc. argued in their motions to dismiss that their decisions to provide agents with alternative screening platforms were actually competitive, not anticompetitive.
“In late 2023, as ShowingTime’s comprehensive service contracts ended in both regional markets, the MLS Defendants each conducted independent evaluations and determined that it was in their best interests (and the best interests of their subscriber members) to select an alternative provider to provide such alternative services. ) services,” the document reads. “By definition, new players enter an already crowded market Increase competition, the MLS defendants clearly had a financial interest in the success of the venture. “
The defendants also point to ShowingTime’s status as the nation’s leading home screening platform, arguing that suing smaller upstart competitors is an abuse of antitrust laws and that ShowingTime has lost out in only two MLS markets out of hundreds across the country. ShowingTime is currently used by 370 MLS and over 1 million real estate agents in North America.
“It is not serious to believe that ShowingTime’s loss of two integration contracts in a national market with hundreds of MLSs should give rise to antitrust liability,” the filing reads. “Plaintiffs’ assertions are directly inconsistent with the premise of antitrust law and, if successful, , will subvert them.”
Zillow declined to comment on the filing.
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