Commitments and Contingencies | Commitments and Contingencies Commitments During the three months ended March 31, 2024, there were no material changes to the commitments disclosed in Note 16 in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. Legal Proceedings We are involved in a number of legal proceedings concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of our business activities, some of which are at preliminary stages and some of which seek an indeterminate amount of damages. We regularly evaluate the status of legal proceedings in which we are involved to assess whether a loss is probable or there is a reasonable possibility that a loss or additional loss may have been incurred to determine if accruals are appropriate. We further evaluate each legal proceeding to assess whether an estimate of possible loss or range of loss can be made if accruals are not appropriate. For certain cases described below, management is unable to provide a meaningful estimate of the possible loss or range of possible loss because, among other reasons, (i) the proceedings are in preliminary stages; (ii) specific damages have not been sought; (iii) damages sought are, in our view, unsupported and/or exaggerated; (iv) there is uncertainty as to the outcome of pending appeals or motions; (v) there are significant factual issues to be resolved; and/or (vi) there are novel legal issues or unsettled legal theories presented. For these cases, however, management does not believe, based on currently available information, that the outcomes of these proceedings will have a material effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flow. For the matters discussed below, we have not recorded any material accruals as of March 31, 2024 or December 31, 2023. On September 17, 2019, International Business Machines Corporation (“IBM”) filed a complaint against us in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleging, among other things, that the Company has infringed and continues to willfully infringe seven patents held by IBM and seeks unspecified damages, including a request that the amount of compensatory damages be trebled, injunctive relief and costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees. On November 8, 2019, we filed a motion to transfer venue and/or to dismiss the complaint. On December 2, 2019, IBM filed an amended complaint, and on December 16, 2019 we filed a renewed motion to transfer venue and/or to dismiss the complaint. The Company’s motion to transfer venue to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington was granted on May 28, 2020. On August 12, 2020, IBM filed its answer to our counterclaims. On September 18, 2020, we filed four Inter Partes Review (“IPR”) petitions before the U.S. Patent and Trial Appeal Board (“PTAB”) seeking the Board’s review of the patentability with respect to three of the patents asserted by IBM in the lawsuit. On March 15, 2021, the PTAB instituted IPR proceedings with respect to two of the three patents for which we filed petitions. On March 22, 2021, the PTAB denied institution with respect to the last of the three patents. On January 22, 2021, the court partially stayed the action with respect to all patents for which we filed an IPR and set forth a motion schedule. On March 8, 2021, IBM filed its second amended complaint. On March 25, 2021, we filed an amended motion for judgment on the pleadings. On July 15, 2021, the court rendered an order in connection with the motion for judgment on the pleadings finding in our favor on two of the four patents on which we filed our motion. On August 31, 2021, the Court ruled that the parties will proceed with respect to the two patents for which it previously denied judgment, and vacated the stay with respect to one of the three patents for which Zillow filed an IPR, which stay was later reinstated by stipulation of the parties on May 18, 2022. On September 23, 2021, IBM filed a notice of appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit with respect to the August 31, 2021 judgment entered, which judgment was affirmed by the Federal Circuit on October 17, 2022. On March 3, 2022, the PTAB ruled on Zillow’s two remaining IPRs finding that Zillow was able to prove certain claims unpatentable, and others it was not. On October 28, 2022, the court found one of the two patents upon which the parties were proceeding in this action as invalid, and dismissed IBM’s claim relating to that patent. Following the court’s ruling, on October 28, 2022, the parties filed a joint stipulation with the court seeking a stay of this action, which was granted by the court on November 1, 2022. On November 25, 2022, Zillow filed a motion to join an IPR petition within Ebates Performance Mktg., Inc. d/b/a Rakuten Rewards v. Int ’ l Bus. Machs. Corp. (“Rakuten IPR”), IPR2022-00646 concerning the final remaining patent in this action, which the court granted on April 20, 2023. On October 11, 2023, the PTAB ruled on the Rakuten IPR finding the claims of the patent asserted against Zillow unpatentable. IBM appealed the PTAB’s decision on November 21, 2023, and cross appeals were filed by Ebates Performance Marketing Inc. on November 21, 2023 and by us on December 15, 2023. On March 20, 2024, IBM voluntarily dismissed all claims filed in this action against Zillow with prejudice, with the exception of those pertaining to the patent asserted within the pending Rakuten IPR appeal. We deny the allegations of any wrongdoing and intend to vigorously defend the claims in the lawsuit. There is a reasonable possibility that a loss may be incurred related to this matter; however, the possible loss or range of loss is not estimable. On July 21, 2020, IBM filed a second action against us in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleging, among other things, that the Company has infringed and continues to willfully infringe five patents held by IBM and seeks unspecified damages. On September 14, 2020, we filed a motion to dismiss the complaint filed in the action, to which IBM responded by the filing of an amended complaint on November 5, 2020. On December 18, 2020, we filed a motion to dismiss IBM’s first amended complaint. On December 23, 2020, the Court issued a written order staying this case in full. On July 23, 2021, we filed an IPR with the PTAB with respect to one patent included in the second lawsuit. On October 6, 2021, the stay of this action was lifted, except for proceedings relating to the one patent for which we filed an IPR. On December 1, 2021, the Court dismissed the fourth claim asserted by IBM in its amended complaint. On December 16, 2021 Zillow filed a motion to dismiss the remaining claims alleged in IBM’s amended complaint. On March 9, 2022, the Court granted Zillow’s motion to dismiss in full, dismissing IBM’s claims related to all the patents asserted by IBM in this action, except for the one patent for which an IPR was still pending. On March 10, 2022, the PTAB rendered its decision denying Zillow’s IPR. On August 1, 2022, IBM filed an appeal of the Court’s ruling with respect to two of the dismissed patents, which ruling was affirmed by the appeals court on January 9, 2024. On March 20, 2024, IBM voluntarily dismissed all claims filed in this action against Zillow with prejudice and the Clerk of Court was directed to close the case. On November 16, 2021, November 19, 2021 and January 6, 2022, three purported class action lawsuits were filed against us and certain of our executive officers, alleging, among other things, violations of federal securities laws on behalf of a class of those who purchased our stock between August 7, 2020 and November 2, 2021. The three purported class action lawsuits, captioned Barua v. Zillow Group, Inc. et al., Silverberg v. Zillow Group, et al. and Hillier v. Zillow Group, Inc. et al. were brought in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and were consolidated on February 16, 2022. On May 12, 2022, the plaintiffs filed their amended consolidated complaint which alleges, among other things, that we issued materially false and misleading statements regarding our Zillow Offers business. The complaints seek to recover, among other things, alleged damages sustained by the purported class members as a result of the alleged misconduct. We moved to dismiss the amended consolidated complaint on July 11, 2022, plaintiffs filed their opposition to the motion to dismiss on September 2, 2022, and we filed a reply in support of the motion to dismiss on October 11, 2022. On December 7, 2022, the court rendered its decision granting defendants’ motion to dismiss, in part, and denying the motion, in part. On January 23, 2023, the defendants filed their answer to the consolidated complaint. On March 14, 2024, plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification and we filed our opposition on April 26, 2024. We intend to deny the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to vigorously defend the claims in this consolidated lawsuit. We do not believe that a loss related to this consolidated lawsuit is probable. On March 10, 2022, May 5, 2022 and July 20, 2022, shareholder derivative suits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington (“Federal Court”) and on July 25, 2022, a shareholder derivative suit was filed in the Superior Court of the State of Washington, King County (the “2022 State Suit”), against us and certain of our executive officers and directors seeking unspecified damages on behalf of the Company and certain other relief, such as reform to corporate governance practices. The plaintiffs (including the Company as a nominal defendant) allege, among other things, that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties by failing to maintain an effective system of internal controls, which purportedly caused the losses the Company incurred when it decided to wind down Zillow Offers operations. Plaintiffs also allege, among other things, violations of Section 14(a) and Section 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, insider trading and waste of corporate assets. On June 1, 2022 and September 14, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington issued orders consolidating the three federal derivative suits and staying the consolidated action until further order of the court, which stay was further continued by the Federal Court on September 6, 2023. On September 15, 2022, the Superior Court of the State of Washington entered a temporary stay in the 2022 State Suit. Upon the filing of the defendants’ answer in the related securities class action lawsuit on January 23, 2023, the stay in the 2022 State Suit was lifted. A partial stay was then reentered in the 2022 State Suit, which expired on February 1, 2024. On August 23, 2023 a second shareholder derivative suit was filed in the Superior Court of the State of Washington, King County. The defendants intend to deny the allegations of wrongdoing and vigorously defend the claims in these lawsuits. We do not believe that a loss related to these lawsuits is probable. In addition to the matters discussed above, from time to time, we are involved in litigation and claims that arise in the ordinary course of business. Although we cannot be certain of the outcome of any such litigation or claims, nor the amount of damages and exposure that we could incur, we currently believe that the final disposition of such matters will not have a material effect on our business, financial position, results of operations or cash flow. Regardless of the outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources and other factors. Indemnifications In the ordinary course of business, we enter into contractual arrangements under which we agree to provide indemnification of varying scope and terms to business partners and other parties with respect to certain matters. For additional information regarding our indemnifications, see Note 16 in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. |