I think Rob Dawg might have started this one – his blog is where I heard of the McMansion Hell on Friday, and now Zillow is chasing her around like a felon:
https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/26/15876602/zillow-threatens-sue-mcmansion-hell-tumblr-blog
McMansion Hell is a Tumblr blog that highlights the absurdity of giant real estate properties and the ridiculous staging and photography that are omnipresent in their sales listings. The blog, started by 23-year-old Johns Hopkins graduate student Kate Wagner, began in July 2016 as a way to poke fun at pretentious architecture. It has since gone viral, but now she’s facing potential legal charges by real estate site Zillow for allegedly violating the site’s terms of service by reproducing the images on her blog.
A typical McMansion Hell blog post will have a professional photo of a home and/or its interior, along with captions scattered throughout by Wagner. She also adds information about the history and characteristics of various architecture styles, and uses photos from the likes of Zillow and Redfin to illustrate how so many real estate listings inaccurately use the terms.
Under each post, Wagner adds a disclaimer that credits the original source of the images and cites Fair Use for the parody, which allows for use of copyrighted material for “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.” In a cease and desist letter to Wagner, Zillow claims Wagner’s reproduction of these images do not apply under the Copyright Act. Additionally, the company claims McMansion Hell may “[interfere] with Zillow’s business expectations and interests.”
Zillow got sued for using photos without authorization, so now they are going after the little people with a vengeance? Where will they stop?
I read McMansion Hell every week, it is hilarious (and educational!).
Why in the world is Zillow being such a**hats? The site is clearly parody, but now she gets hit with legal bills.
No chance Zillow can win this one, it’s an obvious parody and protected as such. They can still “win” by driving the lady into bankruptcy through legal fees, though.
Zillow has been going backwards on skates today:
https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/27/15880934/zillow-mcmansion-hell-copyright-kate-wagner
Here’s the much nicer letter Zillow sent to Wagner today, in full:
Dear Kate,
Over the past day, we’ve had a lot of questions from the media about the cease and desist our legal team sent to you. I understand why – your blog is well-loved by its many fans.
I wanted to write to both thank you for taking down the photos, but also to give you a little bit of context around the request.
Mostly, though, I want to stress that we do not want you to take down your blog. We hope you will be able to resume your writing and find other sources for photos.
As for why we requested you remove the photos from Zillow – we do not own the rights to many of the photos on our site, and therefore can’t give permission for third parties, such as yourself, to take the photos from our website for any purpose. We get them from brokerages and MLSs who are advertising homes for sale and through those agreements we have an obligation to protect the interest of the copyright holders who license the images to Zillow.
We are happy to answer any questions about this, and I sincerely hope you are able to find other sources for photos.
Best,
Z
The game has certainly changed now that the blogger has *free* representation from the mighty EFF. I predict Zillow is going to drop the suit and hope this all gets forgotten as quickly as possible.
Emily emailed this to me directly:
Hello, please see below for a statement from Zillow.
We have decided not to pursue any legal action against Kate Wagner and McMansion Hell. We’ve had a lot of conversations about this, including with attorneys from the EFF, whose advocacy and work we respect. EFF has stated that McMansion Hell won’t use photos from Zillow moving forward.
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.
Emily
EMILY HEFFTER
Public Relations Manager
P 206.757.4439
M 206.850.5970
@EmilyHeffter