The Department of Justice (DOJ) has brought an antitrust lawsuit against real estate software company RealPage, alleging in an Aug. 23 complaint that its rental price algorithm allows landlords to illegally coordinate rent increases.
“We allege that RealPage’s pricing algorithm enables landlords to share confidential, competitively sensitive information and align their rents,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press release.
“Using software as the sharing mechanism does not immunize this scheme from Sherman Act liability, and the Justice Department will continue to aggressively enforce the antitrust laws and protect the American people from those who violate them.”
The Sherman Act, passed in 1890, is the antitrust law the DOJ has been using to sue companies like Apple, Google, and Live Nation over allegedly illegal and anticompetitive behavior….