Move and the National Association of REALTORS® have filed a lawsuit against Zillow and Errol Samuelson, chief industry development officer for Zillow, in the Superior Court of King County, Washington, for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of trade secrets among others actions.
The National Association of REALTORS® and its subsidiary Realtors Information Network, Inc. and Move subsidiaries RealSelect Inc. and Top Producer Systems Co. are also named as plaintiffs in the suit.
“At Move, we take our trade secrets and intellectual property extremely seriously as a valuable asset in our competitive position in the marketplace,” said Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Move. “We take action in cases in which we believe our trade secrets have been compromised. We have raised this matter for the courts and believe that the matter will be resolved judiciously.”
Dale Stinton, NAR CEO stated, “One of realtor.com®’s greatest assets is its strong ties to REALTORS® and the real estate industry, and its competitors know that. Move and realtor.com® respect REALTORS® for their industry commitment, knowledge, and insights. NAR’s relationship with Move is based on that foundation, and we will represent them against others who don’t show them that same respect.”
Earlier this month, Zillow appointed Errol Samuelson to the new position of chief industry development officer to head the company’s real estate industry relations strategy. In his new role, Samuelson will report directly to Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff.
Samuelson is the former president of realtor.com® and has more than 20 years’ experience in technology and the real estate industry to his new role.
On Monday, Zillow announced that yet another former Move exec was joining their team. Curt Beardsley has joined the company as vice president of industry development, responsible for building and strengthening Zillow’s relationships with MLSs and other industry partners.
Beardsley, 49, was most recently executive vice president of industry development at Move, where he helped lead products and services at realtor.com® and other subsidiaries.
A spokesperson for Zillow told RISMedia that the company does not comment on pending litigation.
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