Zillow Backs Down From Copyright Threat Against McMansion Hell Blogger

Real estate listing company Zillow will not sue a blogger behind the satirical site McMansion Hell. The announcement caps off a brief legal dispute between Zillow and the blog, which focuses on satirizing and talking about the design of elaborate suburban homes.

Earlier this week, Zillow sent a cease and desist request to creator Kate Wagner, claiming that the site’s use of photos from Zillow violated its terms of service and copyright. However, Zillow later admitted that it doesn’t technically own the copyright to the photos in question, The Verge reported. And situations like McMansion Hell -- where content is used for parody or satire -- have traditionally been protected under fair use.

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In response to Zillow’s initial claim, the non profit Electronic Frontier Foundation announced Tuesday it would represent Wagner. In a letter Thursday, staff attorney Daniel Nazer said Zillow’s primary claims were without merit.

“Our client has no obligation to, and thus will not, comply with Zillow’s demands,” Nazer said. “Zillow’s legal threats are not supported and plainly seek to interfere with protected speech.”

In a separate post on the EFF’s website, Nazer further detailed the EFF’s questioning of Zillow’s legal claims.

Zillow also suggested, without any explanation, that Wagner may have violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). EFF has long fought against overbroad applications of the CFAA, which is the federal anti-hacking statute intended to criminalize unauthorized intrusions into computer networks. There is no basis for a CFAA claim against Wagner. To the extent Zillow was suggesting that she might have violated the CFAA by violating Zillow’s terms of service, courts have repeatedly rejected such claims.

In subsequent comments to the media and in a conversation with EFF, Zillow has suggested that its fundamental complaint is based on its terms of use, which purports to prohibit any reproduction or modification of images on its site. But, even if these provisions applied (which they do not), they are unenforceable for the many reasons we outline in our letter. For example, the recently enacted Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 invalidates any contract that restricts a consumer’s ability to review a product or service. The statute expressly protects “pictorial reviews” and covers McMansion Hell.

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In a statement Thursday night, Zillow confirmed it would not pursue any legal action against McMansion Hell. As noted in the EFF’s initial letter, the site will also no longer source photos for posts directly from Zillow.

Zillow defended its initial move and denied it wanted to have the site shut down entirely, saying that the listing company only “acted out of an abundance of caution to protect our partners: the agents and brokers who entrust us to display photos of their clients homes.”