A dispute between Homestore and Website vendor a la mode, inc. has erupted over the latter's creation and use of an unauthorized Realtor.com listing import feature which enables agents and brokers to upload listings to their a la mode Agent XSite Websites without rekeying the listing data.

Homestore says that a la mode nor its customers have the right to import data from Realtor.com because of licensing agreements that Realtor.com has with the MLSs to get the data. Realtor.com has no such agreements with the individual agents who may be the listing agents or brokers for the listings.

Explains David Biggers, CEO of a la mode, inc., "a la mode's Agent XSites are Web sites and online management tools, primarily for individual real estate agents and brokers. An important feature of any agent Web site is the ability to showcase the properties they have listed for sale in their local area."

With the features that the company has designed, users may upload photos and descriptive listing information directly to their Agent XSite. However, since many Agent XSite users have already uploaded all this information to Realtor.com, Agent XSites allowed the agent to simply type the MLS number of their listing into XSites' listings wizard, hit submit, and have all of the information already uploaded to Realtor.com automatically uploaded onto their Agent XSite.

"The access to Realtor.com was a one-time access," says Biggers. "Each time a listing was viewed on an Agent XSite, the photos and information accessed were resident on the XSite, not Realtor.com – with the sole purpose of avoiding duplicating work. Thousands of Agent XSites users took advantage of this timesaving feature. Importantly, only an individual user's Realtor.com properties were displayed on an Agent XSite – no massive "data scrape" of all the properties in a given market or area was ever performed, or even possible."

Homestore says a la mode is violating Realtor.com's Terms of Use by reusing listings information on agents' personal websites, sent a "Cease and Desist" letter demanding a la mode disable the feature.

"Our agreements with the MLSs that provide us with listings don't allow us to do what a la mode wants us to do," explains Homestore Executive VP Corporate Development Group Allan Merrill. "We respect the agreements we have with the MLSs, and we will protect their rights."

But Biggers insists the issue goes beyond the rights of agents or Homestore, that it is one of service - not ownership of the listing.

"We can debate all day – and many have – who owns what, and can use what information for what purpose," says Biggers. "At the end of the day, though, this is a service issue. Homestore says it’s in the business of helping Realtors sell homes. Its CEO said when he took the reins in 2002 that his top priority was serving Realtors. If that’s true, why dig in so hard and rely so heavily on legal recourse? Companies can choose to follow the minimum requirements of the law, or they can choose to better serve their customers by allowing them more ways to help them be successful Realtors."

a la mode says it offered to enter into a licensing agreement on behalf of its Agent XSite customers – for use of their own data, but that Homestore refused to discuss such an option.

Meanwhile, Merrill is frustrated with a la mode's refusal to take its fight to the brokers and MLSs who own the chain of title to the listings and who grant permission to agents and vendors to use the listing data. Realtor.com, nor Homestore, says Merrill, is authorized to grant anyone use of MLS data from Realtor.com - even the listing agent.

"Whether the industry would be well served by a la mode's desired data policies is a question for the industry to discuss, not a dispute between Homestore and another company," says Merrill.

a la mode, inc. accuses Homestore of competing with its Realtors. Homestore accuses a la mode of using Realtor.com to boost its business.

But the dispute does raise some interesting points.

a la mode, inc. would like to save time and money by providing one or two go-to sources for agents to freshen their own Websites with new listings or other information, and using the Realtor.com button provides convenience.

However, taking the data off the Realtor.com and then hosting it on the agent's Website is a copyright violation because the data has been licensed to Realtor.com by the MLSs, not by the listing agent, and all the arguing in the world isn't going to change that until it is tested in court - who really owns the listing?

At the crux of this issue is something that concerns both a la mode and Homestore but they can do nothing about, and that is that listings are tightly controlled by brokers and MLSs on behalf of brokers because brokers use the listing to get business. In fact, it could be said that brokers are in competition with their own agents.

If they weren't, they wouldn't shut down their local public-access MLS sites as has happened in Chicago and Cincinnati, and is being heatedly discussed in Houston and other locales.

MLS sites are competition to the brokers' sites, but they were set up to give the agents and smaller brokers a shot at attracting consumers.

And that is why arguments like this one will continue.

The fact is that the real estate industry is set up with a chain of title to the listings that begins with the broker. The broker agrees to put the listing in the MLS which in turn, relicenses the listing to partners approved by the brokers. The MLS makes a convenient repository, but it is equally effective as a gatekeeper.

Facilities such as Internet Data Exchange and virtual office Website policies have been created to allow brokers and MLSs to give agents the opportunity to carry their own listings as well as the listings of others, and put them on their Websites, but could the process of putting a listing agent's listings on their own sites be improved?

A la mode is right to say that agents, who are expected to market and sell their own listings, should have a quick and easy way to put listings on their Websites, but that doesn't mean the company is right in pursuing Realtor.com/Homestore as the bad guy because it isn't getting its way.

Until brokers turn the marketing reins of listings to the listing agent, vendors like a la mode will have to expect varying degrees of cooperation or problems from one MLS to another. No one can expect to benefit with a shortcut from Realtor.com because Realtor.com is a licensed vendor, too.

In other words, management always wins. Labor always loses.

Now if brokers looked at their agents as customers instead of labor, it would be a different story.

Fortunately, many of them do, but there are simply too many broker business models out there to get a consensus that will make life easy for vendors. Until they do, not much will change for vendors who want access to listings data - even for the most altruistic of reasons.