Commercial real estate data giant CoStar Group has taken its ongoing legal battle with a rival to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the justices to review a critical antitrust issue that could shape competition in the industry. Reuters
At the center of the dispute is Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc. (CREXi), a competitor that claims CoStar unlawfully used its market dominance to lock brokers into its own platforms and restrict competitors’ access to vital digital tools and listings. After a lower federal court dismissed CREXi’s antitrust counterclaims, the **U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit revived them — prompting CoStar’s appeal to the Supreme Court. Reuters
CoStar argues that it has no legal obligation to share its proprietary databases and technologies with rivals and that forcing companies to provide access would discourage innovation and create a flood of litigation. In its petition, the company also points to prior Supreme Court precedents recognizing that firms are generally free to choose which business relationships they pursue. Reuters
The antitrust claims came as CREXi’s response to a separate copyright infringement lawsuit CoStar filed in 2020, in which CoStar accused the rival of illegally copying tens of thousands of its real estate photos and listings to build out competing services. CoStar insists that the antitrust allegations are a tactic to gain leverage after being caught in that dispute. Reuters
CREXi, for its part, has dismissed CoStar’s Supreme Court filing as a stalling move aimed at delaying accountability for what it labels years of anticompetitive conduct. Reuters
The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether it will hear the case, which is officially captioned CoStar Group Inc. v. Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc. and carries docket number 25‑667. Reuters
