Residential portal giant Zillow has settled its antitrust lawsuit against Arizona-area Multiple Listing Service, Multiple Listing Service, Inc. over the termination of its integration with ShowingTime+ in favor of MLS Aligned’s listing platform.
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Nearly two months after reaching a preliminary settlement with Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS), Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (Metro MLS) and MLS Aligned, portal giant Zillow has finalized terms that will restore ARMLS and Metro MLS’s access to ShowingTime+ integrated.
“We are pleased to announce that Zillow, ShowingTime+, MLS Aligned, ARMLS and METRO MLS have reached a resolution,” read a joint statement emailed to Inman. “Each party is committed to enhancing the showing experience for its members. Through this resolution, optional integration and use of Aligned Showings and ShowingTime will be available within the MLS Aligned zone, including ARMLS and METRO MLS.
The settlement ends a nine-month dispute between Zillow, ARMLS, Metro MLS and MLS Aligned.
In December 2023, Zillow filed a lawsuit against ARMLS and MetroMLS, claiming that the two MLS plans to disable integration with ShowingTime and instead use MLS Aligned’s Aligned Showings platform violated antitrust laws. ARMLS terminated its integration with ShowingTime on December 27, and MLS Inc. followed suit in February 2024.
Zillow questioned the timing of the ARMLS and Metro MLS decisions, claiming it was an attempt to give MLS Aligned a “monopoly” in the MLS’s respective regions.
“MLS has rejected all alternatives and solutions offered, leaving their agent members with no choice. “As a last resort, we filed a legal complaint because we believe the conduct of the two MLSs is anti-competitive and harmful to agents and consumers,” Errol Samuelson, Zillow’s chief industry officer, said in a previous Inman article. unfavorable. in these markets.
ARMLS and Metro MLS filed a motion to dismiss in February refuting Zillow’s claims, with MLS’s legal counsel arguing that the introduction of MLS Aligned would increase competition.
“In late 2023, as ShowingTime’s comprehensive services contracts ended in both regional markets, the MLS Defendants each made independent assessments. [that] It was determined that it was in their best interest (and that of their subscriber members) to select an alternative vendor to provide this alternative service,” the February filing reads. “Adding new players to an already crowded market by definition increases competition, and the MLS Defendants clearly have a financial interest in the success of the venture.”
ARMLS and Metro MLS’s motions to dismiss set off months of competing litigation, culminating in U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi scheduling oral arguments for June 18 between attorneys for ARMLS and Metro MLS. However, the two sides reached a tentative settlement five days before the dispute began.
The case has now been closed with prejudice, meaning Zillow cannot refile it.
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