Connells brand Gascoigne Halman has lost its appeal against OnTheMarket.
OnTheMarket said it welcomed today’s Court of Appeal decision to dismiss its opponent’s appeal in the Agents’ Mutual v Gascoigne Halman case.
Gascoigne Halman had been challenging the ‘one other portal’ rule. It lost at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, whose decision was unanimously upheld this morning at the Court of Appeal.
In a statement just released to the stock market, OTM says:
“The Board of OnTheMarket plc notes that the Court of Appeal has today issued judgment in favour of its wholly-owned subsidiary Agents’ Mutual Ltd with regard to all the competition issues in its proceedings against Gascoigne Halman.
“As the major part of its defence against our claim of breach of contract, Gascoigne Halman, led by its parent Connells Group and with funding from Zoopla, had alleged that Agents’ Mutual’s contract with them was void for illegality on competition law grounds.
“Following a ten-day hearing, the Competition Appeal Tribunal issued a unanimous judgment in July 2017 which rejected those arguments and supported the view consistently held by the Board of Agents’ Mutual and OnTheMarket that the Company’s strategy for entry to the portals market has been pro-competitive and that the Company has operated within the law.
“The Court of Appeal has today unanimously and comprehensively dismissed the appeal by Gascoigne Halman of the Tribunal’s findings.
“Whilst the residual non-competition issues relating to our claim remain to be resolved, OnTheMarket emerges from this stage of the litigation stronger and as committed as ever to delivering a market-leading, agent-backed alternative to Rightmove and Zoopla, continuing to inject much-needed competition in the portals market, offering a first-class service to agents at sustainably fair prices and becoming the go-to portal for serious property-seekers.”
Ian Springett, chief executive officer of OnTheMarket, said: “We welcome the Court of Appeal’s unanimous judgment in dismissing Gascoigne Halman’s appeal.
“It upholds the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s unanimous judgment handed down in July 2017, which found in favour of Agents’ Mutual and against Gascoigne Halman on all competition issues.
“Gascoigne Halman’s case, led by its parent Connells Group and with funding from Zoopla, that Agents’ Mutual behaved illegally or anti-competitively, has now been dismissed.”
David Livesey, Connells Group CEO, said: “Firstly, it is important to recognise that this litigation is being brought against Gascoigne Halman/Connells Group by OnTheMarket.
“We are merely defending our business from the action, which is costing both sides time and money which could be put to much better use.
“I am surprised and disappointed that the Appeal Court has upheld the view of the Competition Appeals Tribunal that the “One Other Portal” rule is not anti-competitive when, in my view, it is.
“Having dealt with the competition issues in the Gold Member contract, we now move to the next stage of robustly defending ourselves against this pointless litigation from OTM and, as such, there will be no further comment.”
mmm,, good luck with getting connells on the site in future.
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Bad luck Zoopla! Your investment didn’t pay off!
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No further excuses then Iain!
Get moving with OTMV2.
Our Industry has no need for 3 Portals so, make OTM V2 the ONLY Portal!
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I won my bet.
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It’s about time everyone got behind OTM and promote the site as the best site for serious users, RM & Z still scrxxwing agents with high fees, aditional product costs and unscrupulous price rises. Everyone should stand up the bullies and dump them all in one foul swoop.
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We don’t want Rightmove and we don’t need OTM, get behind Zoopla if you’re wise.
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Ha ha ha ha. Good luck with that. What a great idea.
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My ratio of leads id 5:1 in favour of OTM. People go where the property is. OTM has gained traction with property hunters. Lets make it number 1. The corporates can have RM.
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