3Taps has pulled off the gloves. The company that produced one of the best national search mechanisms based on Craigslist data has filed a counter suit against Craigslist claiming the company's behavior is anticompetitive. I can't help but think that 3Taps has been angling for a fight with Craigslist since its inception. It have to know Craigslist would go after them, as it has been sending Cease and Desist letters to other sites for years. This results of this suit could resonate throughout secondary marketplace communities. For example, there were websites that combine eBay listings with other auction listings, providing a one stop auction site. eBay used Craiglist's tactic of C/D letters to shut them down. So, the decision may define the meaning of 'public information' and may also decide if/when/where classified ads/auction ads constitute copyrightable material.
The CEO of 3Taps Greg Kidd says,
While we respect what craigslist has accomplished in the past in attaining dominance over online classified advertising, we object to them using that market power illegally to stifle innovation and hurt consumers. As craigslist spends heavily to bully and intimidate companies that challenge them, consumers are deprived of better ways to find and execute real-time exchange transactions.
Craigslist uses its monopoly position to achieve huge annual profits without sinking any meaningful costs into research and development or innovation. In other categories – most notably in the hotels and airline bookings marketplace – there has been openness and continual evolution, yet craigslist has gone in the opposite direction, using its market position to remain stagnant despite massive consumer demand for an updated and enhanced user-experience.
In bringing our antitrust counterclaim, we hope to stop craigslist from engaging in an illegal scheme to shut down third-party services and products that enhance the use of postings made on craigslist and provide innovative and more useful ways to effect the exchanges the public seeks.
Related Websites:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/24/3taps-files-antitrust-claim-against-craigslist/
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