MRED warns Zillow lawsuit could revive MLS antitrust risks

Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is warning that its legal dispute with Zillow over listing display rules could undermine long-standing federal antitrust principles governing multiple listing services and broker cooperation, according to a blog post on Thursday from the Chicagoland MLS. In the post, MRED links the current legal fight with Zillow to the Department of Justice’s 2008 settlement with the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which challenged MLS rules that were seen as disadvantaging Internet-based brokerages. That settlement cemented a core principle: MLSs and brokers must treat competing business models consistently, and MLS cooperation cannot favor one competitor over another. In practice, what this has meant is that brokerages cannot exclude listings that belong to competing brokerages from the listing feeds they display on their websites. The terms of this settlement expired in November 2018. In the lawsuit filed by Zillow in mid-May, MRED has alleged that Zillow’s listing access standards policy goes against the spirit of this settlement, as it means that, when enforced, the policy results in the listing portal excluding some listings from display based on crite...