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CoStar Press Release: CoStar Group Refutes LoopNet’s " Irrefutable Evidence” of Unlawful Activity

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CoStar Group Refutes LoopNet’s "Irrefutable Evidence” of Unlawful Activity

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Condemns Frivolous Litigation that Fails to Serve Interests of Shareholders or Customers

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BETHESDA, MD — June 9, 2009 - CoStar Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSGP), the number one provider of information/marketing services to the commercial real estate industry, today refuted LoopNet’s supposedly “irrefutable evidence” of unlawful activity.  Specifically, in response to LoopNet’s unsupported claims, CoStar announced that a settlement agreement entered into by the parties in 2005 expressly permits the very activity that LoopNet now complains of – namely, the access by CoStar to information created and uploaded by brokers to broker-owned websites and to broker-created advertisements appearing on non-password protected areas of LoopNet’s website. 
 
“CoStar categorically denies any wrongdoing. We have had a very specific agreement with LoopNet for the past four years that allows us to access information that appears on LoopNet’s publicly available website, and LoopNet’s lawsuit and its efforts to block CoStar’s valid use of this information is a breach of that agreement,” stated CoStar Group General Counsel Jon Coleman. 
 
“LoopNet has apparently decided that it no longer wishes to abide by the terms of the settlement agreement it made four years ago,” added Coleman. “Instead, it has chosen to litigate and issue press releases in a blatant attempt to mischaracterize CoStar’s legitimate use of LoopNet's web site, which LoopNet knows is permitted under the terms of our agreement. LoopNet should honor the agreement it signed and drop its lawsuit.”
 
CoStar Group’s President and CEO Andrew Florance stated, “In this economic environment, we think both companies need to start focusing more on serving the needs of our respective customers rather than perpetuating an expensive and distracting series of lawsuits. It clearly destroys shareholder value when two companies waste millions of dollars engaging in protracted litigation over trivial issues that distract us from our core objectives of enhancing shareholder value and providing superior services to our customers. Of course, CoStar must, can, and will defend itself against LoopNet’s baseless claims.  But we do so knowing that such litigation is not the most productive use of either company’s resources.”

About CoStar Group, Inc.

CoStar Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSGP) is the number one provider of information/marketing services to commercial real estate professionals in the United States as well as the United Kingdom. CoStar's suite of services offers customers access via the Internet to the most comprehensive database of commercial real estate information throughout the U.S. as well as in the United Kingdom and France. Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, CoStar has approximately 1,300 people working for the company worldwide, including the largest professional research organization in the industry. For more information, visit http://www.costar.com.