James Kaminsky, a former Realtor.com editor accused of taking commerce secrets and techniques with him to CoStar, transferred entry to at the very least 40 paperwork two days earlier than he left the job, in line with authorized filings.
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An worker who led a content material crew at Realtor.com earlier than shifting to rival CoStar Group transferred entry to as many as 40 paperwork to his private electronic mail and continued accessing them dozens of instances after exiting the Transfer, Inc.-owned portal, in line with a forensic evaluation in new authorized filings Tuesday.
Realtor.com mother or father Transfer, Inc. requested the court docket to problem an order that will block former Realtor.com content material editor James Kaminsky and present employer, CoStar Group, from additional entry to paperwork on the middle of a lawsuit filed in July. Commerce secrets and techniques throughout the paperwork embody particulars on the corporate’s on-line visitors, promoting and lead technology techniques, Transfer attorneys declare.
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“Anyone with access to these documents knows what will be published on Realtor.com, and when,” Transfer, Inc. Vice President of Editorial and Content material Amy Maas mentioned in a sworn assertion included within the new submitting. “How Realtor.com’s stories are performing, and why, who Move’s Communications team is in contact with and what information media outlets are requesting from Move.”
Initially filed in July in U.S. District Court docket in California, the lawsuit has put a highlight on the extraordinary race between the nation’s largest actual property portals to realize extra net visitors and convert that into revenue. It additionally highlights the continuing fallout between Realtor.com and CoStar, which was reportedly on the cusp of buying Transfer, Inc. in early 2023 earlier than negotiations ended.
Within the newest submitting, Realtor.com legal professionals shared insights from forensics specialists who analyzed Kaminsky’s work laptop and different Realtor.com paperwork to find out how and when he allegedly seen them.
Howard Pence, vice chairman of worldwide cyber protection for Information Corp., which owns Transfer, mentioned in a sworn assertion that digital logs of Realtor.com’s paperwork confirmed that Kaminsky transferred entry to 40 paperwork on Jan. 11 and Jan. 12, Kaminsky’s remaining two days working for Transfer.
“I am not aware of any legitimate business purpose for a former employee such as Mr. Kaminsky to access Move’s electronic files on the Google Docs account after his employment ended,” Pence mentioned. “Mr. Kaminsky was not authorized to access the Google Docs account after his employment ended.”
CoStar dismissed the most recent submitting, saying in an announcement that it was a distraction from a separate lawsuit filed towards Transfer, Inc. final week.
In that case, a gaggle of eight Realtors accused Transfer, Inc. of promoting unvetted and fraudulent leads via Transfer Community sights, together with Realtor.com, ListHub and UpNest. CoStar is just not concerned within the swimsuit.
“We have stated from the beginning that Move’s case against CoStar was a PR stunt, and this is just more proof,” CoStar Basic Counsel Gene Boxer advised Inman. “Move’s continued bullying of a long-serving employee in the process is even worse. We will fight and win this dispute. In the meantime, Move should focus on the lawsuit against Realtor.com for allegedly selling unvetted and fraudulent buyer and seller leads.”
The lawsuit and declarations don’t accuse Kaminsky of sharing the paperwork with anybody at CoStar.
The brand new submitting in Realtor.com’s lawsuit included sworn declarations from Kaminsky’s former workers and superiors at Realtor.com, in addition to the forensics specialists working for Transfer who analyzed the paperwork.
Kaminsky ran a division generally known as the Information & Insights Staff at Realtor.com, which Transfer workers mentioned had efficiently pushed visitors to the web site.
Kaminsky was terminated from Transfer on Jan. 10. Jan. 12 was his remaining working day, in line with the court docket paperwork. He started working at CoStar in March.
In accordance with his LinkedIn profile, which was eliminated shortly after Transfer filed its lawsuit on July 2, Kaminsky began working as an editor at Properties.com in March. Kaminsky wrote that he was a content material lead answerable for overseeing a crew of 10 full-time writers.
Realtor.com’s communications director mentioned that the paperwork on the coronary heart of the lawsuit “contain a great deal of confidential and proprietary information that could be used to construct and operate a competing News & Insights-type platform.”
One of many 4 key paperwork on the coronary heart of the lawsuit is taken into account “a detailed business plan” for the groups that drive visitors to Realtor.com, in line with the submitting.
Maas mentioned {that a} member of her crew was viewing the doc on June 3, 2024, once they noticed a consumer entry the doc with the e-mail tackle jim.kaminsky@gmail.com.
“I was stunned to learn that a former Move employee was accessing a highly confidential electronic document of Move (and effectively spying on updates to that confidential document in real time), especially with respect to this document because it contains so much valuable, non-public information about our business,” Maas mentioned in her sworn declaration.
Learn the most recent submitting right here (refresh web page if doc doesn’t seem).
