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oStar Group has filed a federal lawsuit against Zillow, accusing the real estate listings giant of mass copyright infringement. The complaint alleges that Zillow unlawfully published over 46,000 copyrighted photos from CoStar on its website and other platforms like Redfin and Realtor.com.

    The lawsuit claims this is one of the largest real estate image infringement cases in history. CoStar, which owns Apartments.com and Homes.com, has invested heavily in real estate data and photography, and is now taking steps to protect its multibillion-dollar investment.

    "Zillow's theft of tens of thousands of our copyrighted photographs is outrageous," said Andy Florance, founder and CEO of CoStar Group. "They're profiting from decades of our work and billions of dollars invested."

    The lawsuit also targets Zillow's partnerships with Redfin and Realtor.com, which feature multifamily listings provided solely by Zillow. According to the complaint, CoStar images have been displayed over 250,000 times on Zillow's site alone.

    CoStar claims Zillow is a repeat offender, referencing a prior copyright infringement case in which it was ordered to pay millions after being found liable by a jury. If other sites don't remove CoStar's images immediately, the company will sue them as well, said Florance.

    As one of the world's largest real estate photography collections, CoStar produces over 2 million original images annually through its network of in-house and contracted photographers.