A California federal judge on Wednesday denied both CoStar and CREXi’s partial summary judgment motions in CoStar’s copyright suit. The court found CoStar had shown ownership of images that it accuses CREXi of infringing, but lacked evidence that CREXi’s platform specifically promoted those images or did so without broker involvement. A day later, the judge ruled to exclude opinions from CoStar's damages expert.
The rulings by U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall came just days after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived CREXi’s antitrust counterclaims against CoStar, giving momentum to CREXi in the complex litigation between the two commercial real estate rivals.
On Thursday, CREXi's counsel Elliot Peters told Law.com, Law360, and the Daily Journal that it's "been a terrific week" for the company.
"The Ninth Circuit's decision reviving our antitrust claims will open the door to discovery into CoStar's anticompetitive conduct — and exposes CoStar to treble damages," Peters said. "And the district court's summary judgment [ruling] cleared the way for trial on key issues while narrowing CoStar's theories and reinforcing many of ours."
"CoStar now has more to fear from this litigation than CREXi," he continued. "We look forward to presenting our case to a jury."
"When a jury hears the full story, CREXi will prevail," he added.
The Daily Journal also reported that the judge ruled in favor of CREXi's motion to exclude opinions from CoStar's damages expert regarding the hypothetical licensing value of CoStar's images. Co-counsel Warren Braunig said the Thursday ruling "gutted CoStar's damages case."
"CoStar's inflated damages theories were always based on smoke and mirrors, and we are pleased the court saw through CoStar's charade," Braunig said. "When all the evidence is in, we are confident that it will be CREXi, not CoStar, that is awarded damages for CoStar's unlawful anticompetitive conduct."
In addition to Peters and Braunig, CREXi is represented by Nick Goldberg, Katie Lynn Joyce, Jason George, Niall Frizzell, Christi Zaleski, Taylor Reeves, Julia Greenberg, Kelly Kaufman, Eleanor Brock, and Jasmine Virk.
Read the full coverage at Law360, the Daily Journal and Law.com. (Subscriptions required).