Justices Mull Challenge to Revived Real Estate Antitrust Claims

The US Supreme Court asked Commercial Real Estate Exchange, known as CREXi, to respond to rival CoStar Group’s petition seeking to undo the revival of CREXi’s antitrust counterclaims in a copyright suit.

CoStar—which sued over CREXi’s alleged infringement of tens of thousands of photos—told the justices the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s ruling would let groundless antitrust claims reach discovery, imposing costs and allowing them to “extract settlements on flimsy and implausible claims.” The panel erred by validating a “de facto” exclusive-dealing claim with no contracts, programs or policies, and also by ignoring a doctrine that allows ...