Why Zillow Gone Wild is being sued for alleged copyright infringement

It’s been quite the run for Zillow Gone Wild, the meme-mad social media account that highlights amazing (and outlandish) homes for sale across the United States. Created by former BuzzFeed writer Samir Mezrahi in December 2020 as a pandemic-era hobby, Zillow Gone Wild has now parlayed internet virality into a reality series on HGTV.

But Zillow Gone Wild’s success story could come to a grinding halt, thanks to a lawsuit filed late last month in the Eastern District of New York by real estate photographer Jennifer Bouma, who says two of her images were used without permission in a post that appeared on Zillow Gone Wild’s website and social media. Bouma wants up to $150,000 for each photograph.

According to the lawsuit, Bouma visited 21632 High Rock Road in Monroe, Washington, in September 2021. Bouma took a series of photographs of the four-bedroom, three-bathroom castle-themed home (which sits on 18.75 acres of land) for realtors.

Bouma’s photographs seem to have done their job: the property sold in December 2022 for $1.925 million. Meanwhile, Bouma registered her photographs with the U.S. Copyright Office in January 2022.

In February 2022, and while the property was still on sale, Zillow Gone Wild posted about the property on its Substack, as well as its Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) feeds. The post—which has since been deleted across all social channels—featured two of Bouma’s photographs: one of a dragon statue in the garden of the property, and a shot of what appears to be the property’s stately dining room, complete with a long wooden table and decorative suits of armor.

Bouma said in the complaint that she was never contacted by Zillow Gone Wild nor its parent company Kale Salad about using her photographs in the post. In fact, she didn’t know about the Zillow Gone Wild post at all until April 2024, when she discovered her images had been used.

Bouma’s attorney, David C. Deal, says she’s far from the only photographer whose work was co-opted by Zillow Gone Wild. “Zillow Gone Wild . . . are in the business of copying the work of others for display on their website and social media,” he tells Fast Company. (Bouma herself did not comment for this story.)

Deal says he was forced to litigate because negotiations with Kale Salad and its insurance provider collapsed over the amount the insurer was willing to cover Kale Salad for using the images. The fee at which Deal was negotiating with Kale Salad’s insurance provider was less than the $300,000 maximum possible damages Zillow Gone Wild could pay should the court rule in Bouma’s favor. “Our demand was probably something in the neighborhood of $12,500 or $15,000 for each of the images,” he says. (Mezrahi did not respond to Fast Company’s request for comment.)

Outside experts are divided on the case. On the one hand, says University of Sussex copyright law expert Andres Guadamuz, “The case is straightforward copyright infringement.” On the other, Mezrahi could claim the images are protected under the fair use doctrine that allows for limited uses of copyrighted materials. “The character of the defendant’s use is an important factor, and in this case the use appears to be comment and criticism—and perhaps satire—which are core functions that fair use aspires to protect,” says Northeastern University law professor Alexandra J. Roberts. (Fair use generally applies to excerpted or remixed works; Zillow Gone Wild published the photographs in their original form, which “weighs against fair use,” Roberts adds.)

Deal, for his part, says he’s particularly intrigued to litigate the fair use defense. “If they want to fully litigate the issue of fair use, it comes with a lot of risk to it,” he says. “If they lose, they really lose, because we have all these other clients, who are in effectively the exact same position as Miss Bouma.”

Perhaps, in the end, a settlement is the most likely outcome. “I honestly can’t see a way out for the people running the site,” says the University of Sussex’s Guadamuz. 

Whether Mezrahi can afford to settle the suit is another question. He told the Washington Post in April that the account brings in “very little” money. (Terms of the HGTV deal were not disclosed.) Last week, he posted financial information on X indicating Zillow Gone Wild brought in $242.24 in revenue from its X account between June 21 and July 19 inclusive.

Meanwhile, Zillow Gone Wild is continuing to post across its social channels. Some recent highlights: a Michigan mansion that incorporates a decades-old diner into its interior, and a New York home that is actually a retrofitted potato barn.

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