A federal judge this week ordered Seattle-based Zillow to pay nearly $2 million as the result of a copyright infringement case from an Illinois-based photography company.
The case stems from Zillow's 2014 use of images on a home improvement section of its website, known at the time as Zillow Digs. The site allowed homeowners to price home renovations and included photos taken by VHT, a real estate photography company that licenses photos of homes for marketing purposes.
In a decision Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Robart found "Zillow's infringement of 388 of VHT's images before July 10, 2014 was innocent, and that its infringement of 2,312 of VHT's images after July 10, 2014 was not innocent." VHT sent Zillow a cease-and-desist letter on July 10, 2014. Robart ordered total damages of $1.93 million along with interest.
