The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) is suing Mongohouse for $2 million, claiming that the website is illegally distributing proprietary data without permission.
The Toronto Real Estate Board, which represents more than 50,000 realtors across the Greater Toronto Area, filed the lawsuit in Federal Court and is seeking an immediate and permanent injunction against the popular website. If granted, the website would have to be taken down right away.
In its statement of claim, TREB alleges that Mongohouse participates in an "orchestrated strategy to avoid and elude" its attempts to shut it down. TREB also claims that the anonymous website is infringing on its copyrights by freely distributing information that it provides to its members for a fee using the proprietary multiple-listings service (MLS). This includes information such as new property listings, descriptions, prices and photographs.
TREB states that it doesn't know how its information is being accessed, but believes that it is the source because Mongohouse is sharing unique information that is only available through its MLS system, and that duplicate information is showing up on Mongohouse website within 48 hours of it being posted on MLS.
"All of the information on the Mongohouse website for this purpose is only available from the TREB MLS system," states the legal claim. "There is no other means available for Mongohouse to obtain the information."
The Toronto Real Estate Board argues that it has spent "tens of millions" of dollars to create and maintain its MLS system and that it suffers "injury and irreparable harm" when Mongohouse copies and distributes its information. In the lawsuit, TREB is claiming $2 million in damages and an additional $100,000 for copyright infringement, plus legal costs.
