Published : 1 week ago, on 29/11/2024

(Reuters) – Australia’s Domain Holdings said on Friday it will defend copyright infringement claims made by its larger rival, Rupert Murdoch’s REA Group.

The claims of infringement primarily relate to images for 181 property listings, the copyright of which REA only recently acquired from the relevant photographers, Domain Holdings said in an email to Reuters, without specifying details about previous ownership.

REA Group is yet to reply to a Reuters request for comment.

The News Corp controlled-REA Group, which recently ended its pursuit of British firm Rightmove, has more than doubled its market capitalisation in the last five years or so while Domain’s market value has dropped around 17% in the same period.

“Of greater concern is REA’s efforts to acquire controlling ownership of valuable data from the agents and vendors who paid for this photography,” Domain said.

“This transfer of ownership should be deeply concerning to the industry, as yet another example of a dominant market participant taking actions that reinforce its position.”

Nine Entertainment, which publishes local newspapers such as the Australian Financial Review’s weekend version, owns around 60% of Domain Holdings.

($1 = 1.5340 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)