The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) says it has secured a permanent injunction to stop the now-defunct property-listing website Mongohouse from sharing its real estate data.
The board sued Mongohouse last fall, alleging the site was illegally accessing, copying and distributing its proprietary multiple listing service (MLS) data.
It said Wednesday that the Federal Court of Canada has issued an order against the operators of Mongohouse.com and affirmed TREB’s right to protect its data.
“Putting an end to unauthorized uses protects the integrity of the MLS,” TREB president Garry Bhaura said in a statement.
Mongohouse filed a counterclaim last October to TREB’s lawsuit, claiming lost revenue from having to shut down the site and saying it sourced data from public resources.
The popular website, which provided publicly accessible property listings and sold data, shut down Oct. 1, 2018, and remains offline.
TREB chief executive John DiMichele said in a statement that the operators of Mongohouse have co-operated to help prevent further outside use of its data.
“The operators of Mongohouse.com have acknowledged that they were not authorized to access the TREB MLS system and that their actions were wrong in doing so.”
TREB’s legal representative said that any financial aspects of the resolution are confidential.