Residential portal behemoth Zillow has settled its antitrust lawsuit against Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, Multiple Listing Service, Inc., over discontinuing 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 behemoth Zillow has finalized the terms, which will restore ARMLS and Metro MLS integrations to ShowingTime+.
“We are pleased to announce that Zillow, ShowingTime+, MLS Aligned, ARMLS, and METRO MLS have come to a resolution,” read a joint statement emailed to Inman. “All parties are committed to enhancing the showing experience for their members. With this resolution, optional integration and use of both Aligned Showings and ShowingTime will be available within MLS Aligned regions, including ARMLS and METRO MLS.”
The settlement ends a nine-month saga between Zillow, ARMLS, Metro MLS and MLS Aligned.
In December 2023, Zillow filed suit against ARMLS and MetroMLS, claiming both MLSs violated antitrust laws when they planned to disable their integrations with ShowingTime in favor of MLS Aligned’s Aligned Showings platform. ARMLS shuttered its integration with ShowingTime on Dec. 27, with MLS Inc. following suit in February 2024.
Zillow questioned the timing of ARMLS and Metro MLS’ decision, claiming it was an attempt to give MLS Aligned “a monopoly” in the MLSs’ respective regions.
“The MLSs declined all offered alternatives and resolutions, leaving their agent members with no choice and giving Aligned Showings an effective monopoly in their regions,” Zillow Chief Industry Development Officer Errol Samuelson said in a previous Inman article. “As a last resort, we filed a legal complaint because we believe the actions by these two MLSs are anti-competitive and disadvantage agents — and consumers — in these markets.”
ARMLS and Metro MLS batted off Zillow’s claims with a motion to dismiss filed in February, where the MLSs’ legal counsel argued the introduction of MLS Aligned increased competition.
“In late 2023, with ShowingTime’s contracts for integrated services ending in two regional markets, the MLS defendants each made an independent assessment [that] determined it is in their best interests (and their subscriber members’ best interest) to choose an alternate vendor to provide this alternate service,” the February filing read. “By definition, the addition of a new player into an already crowded market increases competition, and the MLS defendants obviously have a financial interest in the success of that joint venture.”
ARMLS and METRO MLS’s motion to dismiss led to several months of competing filings, which ended in U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi scheduling a June 18 oral argument for ARMLS and Metro MLS’s counsel. However, both sides reached a preliminary settlement five days before the arguments were set to begin.
The case is now closed with prejudice, meaning Zillow cannot refile it.
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