Fight Over Real Estate Listings Escalates As NeighborCity Counters Copyright Claims With Antitrust Accusations
from the fight-picks-up dept
Back in May we wrote about how some multiple-listing services (MLSs), at the apparent behest of some annoyed real estate agents, were suing the website NeighborCity (technically its parent company American Home Realty Network (AHRN)), claiming copyright infringement. As we noted at the time, the copyright claims seemed somewhat dubious, as one of the MLSs, Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc. (MRIS), appeared to mostly be claiming copyright over factual information. There were a few other problems with the lawsuit as well. But, the real issue was that it seemed quite clear that the lawsuit had little to do with copyright at all, but was about real estate agents not liking the fact that NeighborCity had started rating real estate agents. AHRN claimed that it suddenly started getting complaints and threat letters (many of which were very similar) right after the National Association of Realtors' annual meeting in November 2011. There was also an email accidentally sent to AHRN's CEO, by one of the execs from an MLS that filed the lawsuit, which basically admitted they wanted to bring a "world of hurt" to the company. Of course, making the matter even more complex, is that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) got in trouble for antitrust violations a few years ago.Given all that, it's not surprising to see that in AHRN's latest response to the original lawsuits, it's filed counterclaims arguing that the actions are antitrust violations. The fact that NAR offered to cover the legal expenses for the MLSs only makes the situation look worse for NAR -- and advances the suggestion that this is really about realtors being pissed off that someone is holding them accountable. NeighborCity highlights that soon after the original lawsuits were filed, NAR approved $161,667 in legal fees for these kinds of legal efforts, despite it not actually being a part of the lawsuit.
Defendants’ coordinated: (a) cease and desist letters to AHRN, (b) refusals to deal letters to AHRN; (c) repudiation letters to AHRN, (3) sham lawsuits against AHRN and (d) agreement or offer to pay for or contribute to the costs of litigation against AHRN by MLSs and real estate brokers, was intended to and did have anti-competitive effects on AHRN in the market for real estate brokerage services. Anti-competitive effects include the elimination of price competition and price maintenance on brokerage services above market levels nationwide, impeding and blocking market entry by AHRN and otherWe're quite used to seeing legacy players in an industry fight innovation and upstart competitors who change the nature of a market, but it's rare to see cases where it seems so incredibly blatant that they're doing this just because they don't like the service in question, rather than via any sort of legitimate copyright claim.
Filed Under: antitrust, copyright, mls
Companies: mris, nar, neighborcity
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
The listings contain facts: this house is for sale at this price by this entity. The listings themselves may be copyrightable because they consist of creative work that contain the facts (layout, wording, etc.) but the facts they contain are not.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
/s
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
What?!?
Oh... http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/05/all-your-reviews-are-belong-to-us-medical-justice-vs-pati ent-free-speech/
Yeah, good luck with that.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
*Disclaimer: Things in my mind may not mesh with reality.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
gatekeepers, gatekeepers everywhere, but not a gate to keep...
(check your conscience at the door)
*of course* they don't want real, honest, and spot-on reviews of their 'services', 'cause that would point out how slimy they are...
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
eof
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Copyright This...
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
An agent's perspective
Beyond that, they make their money be referring business to agents on their site. There are many other companies that do this. The difference is they ask you to be on their site - they don't simply through up a "profile" with erroneous information without even verifying it.
The bottom line is, if they either cannot or will not verify the data, they should not bad information out for the public to see. It is bad for agents and it is also bad for consumers. The only entity this is good for is Neighborcity.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: An agent's perspective
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Neighborcity.com promotes "Dual Agency"
If Neighborcity.com really cared about buyers, they would refer their buyer to an agent who is not the same agent who listed the property of interest.
They only care about the 30% fee. If the referral goes directly to the listing agent, neighborcity increases its chances of making their referral fee via the greed of agents who are trying to double end transactions.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Neighbor city
Has incorrect info on realtor. In some cases, it has merged two realtors into nor a profile for a total distortion. They are hurting the hard working realtors so thy can make a quick buck. They need to be shut down.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Add Your Comment
Add A Reply