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Zillow, Inc., was not entitled to insurance coverage for an $8.3 million judgment against it because it had not timely notified its insurer of the claim, a federal district court in Washington has ruled.

On July 10, 2014, VHT, Inc., a company specializing in property photography, sent a demand letter to Zillow, Inc., which hosts an online marketplace for real estate property listings, claiming that Zillow was misusing VHT's images and demanding that Zillow remove the images from its website. Specifically, VHT explained that Zillow was permitted to use VHT images only in furtherance of sales or marketing. VHT claimed that Zillow had violated its limited license by:

1. Allowing VHT's images to remain on Zillow's website after the photographed property was sold; and
2. Allowing people to use and share VHT's images for home improvement and design purposes through Zillow Digs, one of Zillow's applications.

VHT provided Zillow with a spreadsheet of offending images and asked that Zillow remove those images and take steps to prevent VHT's images from being improperly used on Zillow's website in the future.