From the Web: Beware the NAR Police
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I found an interesting post on ActiveRain written by Marchel Peterson, an agent from Spring, Texas. She describes her run in with the “NAR Police” who contacted her about an unintentional trademark violation in her original real estate website domain name.
Marchel makes a good point that bears repeating. The word REALTOR® is a collective trademark owned by NAR. And, regardless of the fact that you can find the word in a dictionary, NAR is very aggressive about enforcing the rules related to its trademark.
I could relate to Marchel’s post because I had the same experience when I first established a real estate focused website. Yes, the infamous www.BuildRealEstateResults.com website originally had a domain name that contained the word realtor.
If you think it’s weird getting a cease and desist if you’re a real estate professional, imagine how I felt as a professional trying to assist real estate professionals!
Take a look at Marchel’s post. It’s definitely worth thinking about one more time – you really don’t want to tangle with the NAR police!
2 Comments
June 14th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
I’m just getting around to reading all my emails that came in this week and was so surprised when I saw the mention. I’m honored that you found my article. Interesting that you got that letter also. I was told by someone that the general public got off free using the term. It appears that they were wrong! I’m glad they found mine early. I hope you had that same experience. I just recently talked to a gal who had her site for 10 years before they found her. OUCH would that hurt.
Marchel
June 14th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Hi Marchel! Yes, I got that letter, too. But, like you, the domain name was new, so I didn’t lose too much ground. There are a few examples of very old domains being in dispute. I wish NAR would put more emphasis on the “collective copyright”. For non-REALTORS(R), it’s an even more obtuse rule!
Kathleen