PropertyGuru takes legal action against iProperty in Singapore

Singapore’s leading property portal takes competitor to court over copyright, defamation

Singapore, 21 April 2011 —PropertyGuru International (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., the company who owns Singapore’s leading online property portal, PropertyGuru.com.sg, has filed a law suit against its competitor, iProperty in Singapore for defamation and copyright infringement.

Steve Melhuish, co-founder and CEO of PropertyGuru International (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., said, “We have had friendly relationships with all our competitors over the last few years and this used to include iProperty, until 12 months ago, following a change of management. It’s sad that things have come to this.”

In Malaysia, iProperty has recently filed a law suit against PropertyGuru International (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. (“HomeGuru”), the Malaysian company of PropertyGuru International (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. in respect of HomeGuru’s online property portal, HomeGuru.com.my.

Mr. Melhuish said, “The domain ‘HomeGuru.com.my’ was registered and used by us since last year. We therefore strongly refute iProperty’s claims and we are seeking all such remedies and relief available to us under the law. As the suit by iProperty against us is on-going, we are unable to comment further upon our solicitors’ advice.  Suffice it to state that we, whether by ourselves or through our Singapore company, will be claiming against the use of ‘home-guru.com.my’ and ‘propertyguru.com.my’ domain names which are identical or confusingly similar to trade marks which we have common law rights to.”

He added, “Our vision is to provide our customers with the best service and most innovative products at competitive prices. We have achieved the Number One position in Singapore based on these values and strongly believe that we will achieve the same in other countries in a very short period of time.”

“Our claims for the leadership position in Singapore have always been based on reputable third party sources like Hitwise, Google and Alexa and covers all aspects of an Internet business, i.e. page views, visitors, unique visitors, number of agents, number of listings, etc. As a company with integrity, we will not make any claims without being absolutely certain that the figures are backed up.”

“Rest assured that we will continue to concentrate our business on what is most important — our valued customer.”




Media Contact:

PropertyGuru International (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
Ms. Winnie Khoo, Chief Marketing Officer
Tel: +65 6238 5971
Email: winnie@propertyguru.com.sg




About PropertyGuru International (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.:
PropertyGuru International (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. is a Singapore firm founded in 2006 by two successful entrepreneurs and is best known for running www.PropertyGuru.com.sg, Singapore’s leading property site (sources: Hitwise, Alexa and Google). It also runs www.CommercialGuru.com.sg; Singapore’s only dedicated commercial and industrial property portal, as well as www.LoanGuru.com.sg, an online mortgage brokerage with access to over 300 mortgage deals from 22 major local and international banks.

In 2010, PropertyGuru Group recorded a 70 percent increase in users to PropertyGuru.com.sg, clinched some major advertising clients and secured partnerships with major online websites and overseas property portals. That same year, the company won the Singapore IT Federation (SITF) award for “Best E-Enterprise Company 2010”, as well as the Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (SVCA) award for “Best Performing VC Backed Company 2010”. It was also voted “Top Digital Media of the Year 2010” by Marketing.

For 2011, the company has set its sights on expanding into neighbouring countries. It has entered into a joint venture with Redberry, one of Malaysia’s top media companies, to accelerate its expansion into Malaysia and launched HomeGuru.com.my, a website to help users find available properties for sale and rent in Malaysia. It has also acquired FullHouse Media Sdn Bhd, owners of leading North Malaysian property portal, FullHouse.com.my and Rumah.com, Indonesia's top property website, with over 500,000 visitors viewing eight million impressions every month.

Our Businesses:
www.PropertyGuru.com.sg is used by over 1.9 million consumers who view 27 million pages, generating over 150,000 leads for advertisers every month, with the user base having tripled in the last 12 months. The site provides real-time access to multi-media rich content covering property and home-related products, services, news, advice, guides, tools and the largest online property database in Singapore and works closely with prominent real estate developers, housing agents and home-related firms in Singapore and overseas.

www.CommercialGuru.com.sg was launched in August 2010 and is used by 100,000 business users browsing 1 million pages and generating over 50,000 leads for advertisers every month. It is Singapore’s only independent, dedicated commercial and industrial property portal.

www.LoanGuru.com.sg was launched in January 2010 as an independent online mortgage brokerage providing real-time access to over 300 mortgage packages from 22 major local and international banks. It generates over 500 loan leads per month.

www.HomeGuru.com.my is a Malaysian property portal set up as part of a joint venture between PropertyGuru Pte. Ltd. and Malaysia’s RedBerry. It provides consumers a platform to identify available properties for purchase, sale, rental or investment and a direct channel to search for and contact agents. Designed with the end-user in mind, it features real-time access to multi-media rich content, covering property and home-related products, services, news, advice, guides, tools and a rapidly growing online property database in Malaysia. It works closely with prominent real estate developers, housing agents and home-related firms in Malaysia and overseas.

www.FullHouse.com.my was established in 2005 to allow all Malaysians to efficiently and conveniently search for properties on the Internet. It has grown in popularity, attracting over 100,000 visitors every month to become one of Malaysia’s top property portals. With hundreds of housing projects and more than 80,000 property listings to date, Fullhouse.com.my is the preferred online marketing channel for major real estate players. It constantly explores ways to serve customers through innovative and effective strategies. The company’s objective is to enhance the experience of finding a new home and leading the industry into a new era of real estate marketing.

www.Rumah.com was founded in 2007 and is Indonesia's top property website with over 500,000 visitors viewing eight million impressions every month. Over 700 new property listings are added every day and the website has a database of 11,000 opted-in members. Rumah.com is an online media campaign that provides the ideal search experience for all types of property: residential, commercial and industrial. Rumah.com allows sellers and renters to place on its site property advertisements which can be easily viewed by prospective buyers, who can search for property based on location and / or price.

For recent news, please visit www.propertyguru.com.sg/customer-service/press-releases. For more information, visit www.PropertyGuru.com.sg, www.CommercialGuru.com.sg, www.LoanGuru.com.sg, www.HomeGuru.com.my, www.FullHouse.com.my or www.Rumah.com.