In its motion, Move asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction to “restrain and prohibit defendants CoStar Group, Inc. and James Kaminsky from further unauthorized access to the following documents in Move’s possession, and from using or disclosing the information contained in Move’s confidential and trade secret documents: .
The document states that the ban will not prevent Kaminsky, who previously worked on Realtor.com’s News & Insights (N&I) team, from working at CoStar, nor will it prevent CoStar from building products that compete with those offered by Move and Realtor.com.
“Its purpose is simply to prevent further unlawful use of certain stolen documents, preserve evidence, and help Move determine the destination of its stolen information,” the motion states.
Move claimed that the documents included three “key confidential documents” and Move asked the court to prevent CoStar and Kaminsky from further access.
The core documents in Move’s preliminary injunction include the “Comms + Econ + N&I Project Call” document, the “Editorial Budget” document, the “PMDLT N&I Audience and Revenue” document, and employment summaries for multiple Move personnel.
The plaintiffs allege that the documents included information such as job titles, descriptions and salaries, and that Kaminsky sent the documents to a personal Gmail account on January 12, 2024. January 12th.
Move alleges in the filing that Kaminsky “sent confidential company documents from his work email to a Gmail account and used his electronic access credentials to authorize that Gmail account to access Move confidential documents so that he could access them while leaving Move.” Kaminski then secretly accessed Move’s confidential files in an attempt to cover his tracks, deleting more than 900 electronic files and clearing his computer’s browser history. That includes dozens of times while working for his new employer, CoStar Group, Inc., until his arrest in June.
Move said it discovered Kaminsky accessed the files on June 3, when “a Move employee opened one of the core files regularly updated by the N&I team and noticed another user’s alert, [email protected]accessing it.
According to the document, the employee took a screenshot of his presence in the document. On June 9, Kaminsky made another attempt to return the protected document, requesting access to it from his personal Gmail account.
Move claims it believes the ban is necessary because CoStar “takes no responsibility for the actions of its employees” and is instead “eager to attack Move in the media.”
CoStar Group general counsel Gene Boxer called the motion a “knee-jerk submission” in an emailed statement.
“We noted last week that plaintiffs with genuine concerns about trade secrets would file for an injunction when they filed a complaint, but Move did not, and we predicted they would file such a motion now that we had woken them up. That’s exactly what happened thing,” Boxer wrote.
“Realtor.com’s motion confirms that they are using a mid-level employee as collateral and they have no evidence of CoStar’s involvement. None. As we’ve said from the beginning, this is a PR stunt and will backfire.”
“Even more tellingly, Realtor.com admitted in their motion that they were aware of Mr. Kaminsky’s alleged misconduct as at least as early as June 3, but they made no attempt to contact him or CoStar to inquire about such conduct. Rather, they made no attempt to contact him or CoStar to inquire about such conduct. , they waited a month before taking any action. Instead of trying to resolve the issue directly with the parties involved, they went straight to the courts and the media to publicize their documents.
“CoStar welcomes the opportunity to litigate the merits of this case, Realtor.com and Mr. [Damian] once [Realtor.com’s CEO] It will no longer be possible to hide behind press statements disguised as legal arguments.
The lawsuit is the latest development in a long-running feud between Homes.com and Realtor.com. The two have spent the past few months arguing over who holds the title of second-largest listing portal. ZilloRealtor.com claims that Homes.com’s claims that it is the second largest portal in terms of traffic and impressions are false.
