The legal office of the National Association of REALTORS® has contacted a Web site entitled "RealtorSearch.com" and asked it to change its domain name because of its improper use of the term "Realtor" -- just the latest effort by the NAR to police the Internet for unauthorized use of its trademark.

RealtorSearch.com began sending out e-mails late last week inviting real estate brokers, agents and related companies to submit their companies and Web addresses to the "Internet Consumer Group" for the purpose of having their name listed in the RealtorSearch directory.

NAR lawyers said the first wave of e-mails also triggered inquiries to the NAR about whether RealtorSearch was a branch of the national association. It isn't.

"We have a standard letter that we send out in situations like this," said NAR attorney Mike Thiel. "We ask the question, "Are you a member of the national association, or the state or the local,", and if you are, we advise you that you are not using the trademark properly.

"We ask you to go to OneRealtorPlace where the rules are stated."

"If you aren't a member of the national association, we advise you that the term ‘Realtor’ is a registered trademark and please discontinue it." With the explosion in the number of Web sites on the Internet in the past few years, Thiel said his office was devoting at least a couple of hours per day to chasing down users of the word "Realtor."

"Our members are, of course, entitled to use ‘Realtor’ in their names, providing they do it correctly," Thiel said.

Proper use would be something akin to: www.JohnSmithRelators.com. Improper use would be something akin to: www.EvanstonRealtors.com, unless the site was posted by the Evanston board of Realtors.

"We don't designate a specific Realtor for a geographical area," Thiel said. "So we consider that an improper use."

Realtor members who improperly use the trademark usually are given several weeks to fix their sites. Non-members, however, are expected to act within several days.

"Litigation is never our first choice," Thiel said. "But that always remains a viable option. Usually we work with them. We point out there are lots of similar words that can be used in most cases -- like "realty" instead of "Realtor" or even just "realestate."

Perhaps surprising, the now-six domain name registration companies are of no help to the NAR in enforcing its trademark, studiously avoiding interference.

Web operators who attempt to register names with the word "Realtor" in them historically are not asked whether the operator has the right to use the name, nor do the registration companies even notify Thiel's office that someone has asked that the term be incorporated into a domain name.

And, the courts have agreed that trademark protection is not a registration companies' problem.

Since domain names and trademarks often overlap, a number of lawsuits have been filed over the right to use a word or a name. Typically, but not always, the courts have come down in favor of the trademark holder.

There was no immediate indication how or if RealtorSearch.com would change its name.

Published: June 28, 1999

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