California gives up newspaper vs. Web fight

The state of California said its fight to preserve a key regulatory distinction between newspapers and the Web is over.

A spokesman for the state's Department of Real Estate on Monday confirmed that California won't appeal last month's federal court decision that struck down a prohibition on certain kinds of real-estate information posted to the Web. He declined to comment further on the state's decision.

The Nov. 18 ruling, by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, said the state was not justified in requiring Web sites to have a real-estate broker's license in order to publish real-estate advertising and other information while allowing newspapers to do so.

The Institute for Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based public-interest law firm that represented plaintiff ForSaleByOwner.com in the case hailed the state's choice not to appeal the ruling.

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