Somebody's not telling Realtors the whole story in the listings scandal between The Real Estate Book (TREB) and Primedia's subsidiaries/affiliates Realestate.com, HPC Interactive, 1Roof Technologies, and LendingTree.

What we do know is that TREB executives have vowed to find out who profited from listings they say they never authorized 1Roof Technologies to share with Realestate.com and LendingTree. Primedia spokespersons say that 1Roof had a contract with TREB that authorized it to display TREB's listings on other sites. TREB says that if 1Roof were authorized to have the listings, why are they gone? TREB asked 1Roof to take the listings down, leaving Primedia, LendingTree and new traffic partner MSN, in the lurch. That doesn't explain, anyway, how listing agent data and TREB's copyright were removed when the listings appeared on Realestate.com and LendingTree.

In this finger-pointing war, TREB has fired the first cannon ball - serving 1Roof Technologies, a Boston-based subsidiary/affiliate with Primedia/HPC Interactive/Realestate.com with a lawsuit last week outlining breach of contract and copyright infringement, says Ray Peabody, spokesperson for TREB.

The short version of the story is that TREB had a contract with 1Roof Technologies, a datafeed firm, to provide its listings to Lycos. According to TREB executives, 1Roof took the feed without permission and gave it to HPC Interactive, the technology subsidiary of Primedia, for publication on Primedia's other new subsidiary, Realestate.com.

Editor's note: According to a statement sent by Robert Turnbull to Realty Times on February 28th, 2003, 1Roof was purchased by Primedia on February 1, 2002. On March 25, 2003, Turnbull wrote Realty Times that Primedia does not own 1Roof, but that Primedia subsidiary HPC Interactive "owns 1Roof stock," and "is not a majority holder."

Realestate.com shared the listings with revenue partner LendingTree. In fact, brokers in the Lending Tree network are encouraged to share their IDX and VOW solutions for publication on Lending Tree. Brokers are then directed to 1Roof Technologies to become the brokers' "VOW provider," according to documentation sent to MLSs by Lending Tree network brokers.

Agent info, copyrights disappear from listings

Somewhere along the way, TREB and some of their broker advertisers claim, that TREB's copyright and the listing agents' contact information were stripped away and HPC Interactive's copyright was put on photos of TREB advertisers' listings. They know this was done, they say, because LendingTree contacted the brokers to join the Lending Tree network and promised them that there was a lead on their listing which LendingTree would give them in exchange for a referral fee.

Angry that their listings were being used to benefit a referral network, the brokers went to the LendingTree site and saw with horror that their listings were displayed without their contact information. They contacted TREB and demanded an explanation.

Primedia back-pedals

Over the next few weeks, during which LendingTree made its full-scale TV-ad-driven debut as a place to find Realtors, attorneys and personnel associated with Primedia feverishly negotiated with TREB, say executives on both sides.

Toward the end of March, Turnbull told Realty Times that an agreement was pending. TREB executives denied such an agreement was in the works and say they were negotiating to get Primedia and its affiliates to disclose the money trail behind its business plan before lawsuit papers were served to 1Roof.

"We had to start with 1Roof," says Peabody, "because they were the only ones we had a contract with. But Primedia was always the one who answered us."

He continues, "We have asked for information to find out what has happened, when it was originally displayed, and what happened to it. We aren't looking for the money. If there is any, we are going to donate the proceeds to Habitat to Humanity. Someone has gained from this activity, and that's not right. We had a relationship with 1Roof and then we found out our datafeed was being displayed somewhere else, with our Realtor information and copyright removed. We found those things out from seeing it. What we don't have is confirmation of when it happened. Our expectation is that there was some revenue generated from that activity, and we want to know who benefitted."

And that's what nobody at Primedia or Lending Tree wants TREB to know because some answers might result in additional defendants being named in the lawsuit against 1Roof.

Primedia has a lot at stake, if answers posed in depositions go the wrong way. Among them: Does Primedia own or not own 1Roof Technologies? At what point were the listings displayed on Realestate.com and LendingTree, and why did they appear with HPC Interactive's copyright instead of TREB's? Who altered the listings and when?

Lending Tree could also be pulled into the fray. Did Lending Tree know it was republishing purloined listings? If the company didn't know, then how was it able to contact the listing agents to invite them into the network when their names were removed from the listings? Since it happened in several different communities, claims TREB, it can't be mere coincidence. Lending Tree had to have the original listing information directly from 1Roof or HPC Interactive, and TREB says it didn't authorize anyone to give such information to Lending Tree. What was the money model? Who benefitted and how?

Lending Tree did not respond to Realty Times' questions in time for publication. Repeated attempts to reach Chris Delaney with 1Roof Technologies have failed. Although Turnbull provided Realty Times with Delaney's phone number and e-mail, the number was disconnected and the e-mail bounced back.

Published: April 17, 2003

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