Zillow backs down on threat to sue blogger over pictures

The real estate website Zillow is a place to go to search for a home — and maybe marvel at high-end listings.

The snarky blog McMansion Hell is where Internet surfers can go to ridicule the kinds of homes they’ll never be able to afford.

The sites occupy opposite ends of the online real estate world — a reality that Zillow sought to end with a ceaseand-desist letter last month.

McMansion Hell, run by graduate student Kate Wagner, pokes fun at exorbitant suburban eyesores, often overlaying sarcastic text atop photos of the homes. But some of those photos come from Zillow, which the Seattle-based company claimed was a violation of its terms of use.

Last month, Zillow sent Wagner a letter demanding she delete any content lifted from Zillow or face legal action.

Wagner — who makes money from the site using Patreon, an online platform where content creators can receive cash from fans — fought back. She took to Twitter, where she received an outpouring of support and backing from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights group.

In a letter to Zillow, the group’s staff attorney Daniel Nazer called the company’s legal complaints “baseless,” and detailed how Wagner’s blog falls within fair use — a legal doctrine that offers certain protections for criticism and commentary.

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

Nazer also pointed out that Zillow does not own and can’t assert copyright of the photos. Most of the pictures on the site are shot by property sellers or real estate photographers.

Los Angeles real estate photographer Erik Grammer said he wouldn’t have a problem with Wagner using his photos on McMansion Hell. “I have no problem with parody,” he said. “That’s an important part of our culture. If she were selling the photographs, I would have an issue with it.”

Eventually, Zillow announced it was backing down.

“We have decided not to pursue any legal action against Kate Wagner and McMansion Hell,” Zillow said in a statement. “It was never our intent for McMansion Hell to shut down, or for this to appear as an attack on Kate’s freedom of expression. We 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.”

Wagner, however, was still waiting for something else from Zillow — an apology.

“Also Zillow owes me an apology for threatening to ruin my life,” she tweeted.