I Get It, But I Don't Get it: On Zillow's Official Response

The legal arguments are quite solid, but I don't understand the strategic moves here

When Zillow wrote its informal-formal letters to the judge in the Compass v. Zillow case over the preliminary injunction issue, I said those gave good hints to the direction Zillow would go but that we should wait to see what the actual legal filing looks like.

Well, that legal filing dropped, along with Declarations from Zillow executives.

As expected, the legal memorandum is solid work—well-written, well-argued and well-constructed. I can’t find a lot to fault from a legal perspective.

However, and I fully acknowledge that this is because I am an industry insider and know too much, there are real strategic and tactical weaknesses here that cannot be laid at the feet of the lawyers. They must be laid at the feet of Zillow insiders who ought to know better.

Zillow might win this battle, and lose the war over some of the decisions made in this case.

So I am forced to wonder what is going on. I get it, but I don’t get it. Let’s dive in together to my puzzlement; perhaps you can tell me what’s going on here. As always, this is edutainment, not legal advice, and I am a lot of things, but your lawyer is not of them.