A U.S. court in Washington state awarded VHT Studios $8.32 million in a copyright infringement lawsuit the company filed against Zillow Group, the parent company of online real estate website Zillow.

Rosemont-based VHT Studios, which specializes in professional-grade real estate photography, filed the complaint in 2015, claiming VHT's images that appeared on Zillow and its related sites were in violation of copyright laws.

The court last week awarded VHT $79,875 in actual damages and $8.24 million in statutory damages, according to the trade publication HousingWire.

Brian Balduf, CEO, and co-founder of VHT Studios, said the court's verdict "protects the interests of real estate photographers and their clients.

"We look forward to continuing to work with our team of nationwide photographers, as well as our industry counterparts, to create a rights management organization to ensure that all real estate photographs are managed properly and protected against unlicensed uses," Balduf said.

Representatives for Seattle-based Zillow Group told HousingWire they plan to appeal the ruling.

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