A new Website dedicated to gathering strength in numbers has been circulating to try to get Realtors to "just say no" to Realtor.com, but Realty Times has another bone to pick with the site - copyright infringement.

Before we begin, let me say that free speech is a wonderful thing. It's what makes this country great. What also makes this country great is protection of intellectual property. In journalism, this is called a copyright.

Realtors from all over the country are forwarding a new site to each other called Just Say No To Realtor.com. The site is a rallying cry to get Realtor.com to lower its new prices. But in trying to get its message across, the site is creating another wrong to make a right - using Realty Times' content without permission.

The reason this is wrong is twofold: it's a copyright infringement to use someone else's content without permission, and it also implies that Realty Times is endorsing this site and contributed material toward its success when we did no such thing.

We have asked the site to remove material attributed to me, Blanche Evans, as well as unattributed material from Realty Times. Immediately.

Since 1997, Realty Times staff and I have worked hard to build our site's readership and credibility into the leading real estate news service in the nation. We have done so, winning numerous awards in the process, including "Blanche Evans, one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate," NAR editors, December 2000; "Best Real Estate News," Yahoo! Internet Life, March 2002; and "Best of the Web: Buying and Selling," Money Magazine, June 2003. Realty Times is a content provider on the most trafficked real estate portals in the world, as well as a majority of Realtor associations, franchise Websites, and broker and agent Websites.

This is goodwill that is priceless, and not to be taken for unauthorized use by anyone else.

While it is flattering that the Just Say No Webmaster believes that our material will help his cause, the site and its founders have no right to make use our material or imply an endorsement from us that we have never given. Using our material without permission threatens both our credibility and our business model, and those are only two good reasons why copyright laws are in place - to prevent such abuses.

The Just Say No To Realtor.com Website, under a headline called "Is There Strength In Numbers? Read what happened just two short years ago with Homestore! Then sign the virtual petition today to send Homestore another message!", copied and pasted from our site a story I wrote two years ago: No Listings For Bank Of America, Says Realtor.com. While I'm credited as the author, the Realty Times copyright is nowhere to be found.

Guess what, Just Say No Webmaster? That's a copyright violation. I never gave you permission to post this story and neither did anyone else at Realty Times. As the publisher, the copyright belongs to Realty Times, and you did not obtain permission to post this story in your publication. And in case you didn't know, your Website is a publication which means it is subject to copyright laws.

Using my story with my name implies that I gave you the story as an endorsement of what you are doing. I did not, and I resent that whomever put this Website together thought it was OK to use my work and the goodwill generated by the use of my name without my permission.

In another copyright violation, the site has posted "excerpts" of Realty Times stories, without giving any attribution to the author, me, or Realty Times. This is a huge copyright no-no.

The use of these stories didn't result in any traffic to Realty Times that help our advertisers or our subscribers. Realty Times nor I were paid or offered anything for the use of this material.

Again, that is the reason for copyright law - so that another Website can't lessen a site's value by publishing its content without permission.

To be generous, which I really don't have to be with two flagrant copyright violations in hand, I'll assume that the site was put together with good intentions but in total ignorance of copyright laws. So if that is the case, let me spell it out for you, Well-meaning-But-Ignorant-Webmaster:

• You can't publish "excerpts" from anyone's work without giving credit to the author and the publication where you found the work. Period. If you quote "excerpts" from anyone's work, you still have to credit the author and the publication. Just remember what you had to do with book reports in school, and you'll be fine.

• You can link to any link from our site with impunity, but there is no copyright law in the world that allows you or anyone to copy and paste content from another source without permission.

• Just follow these golden copyright rules: If you don't own it, it isn't yours. If you have to get it from someone else, then it's theirs. If it belongs to someone else, it probably isn't free, so there will most likely be conditions attached to using it. All you have to find out what they are is to ask. If you want to use anything that belongs to someone else, always ask.

Editor's note: I did hear from the Webmaster who informed me that the Realty Times stories would be removed, or links to the stories provided, and he also provided a very nice apology. So why publish this story? We don't know how many people saw the stories before they were corrected or how much damage to our business may have been done, and hopefully, someone else with the same idea will be discouraged from using our content without permission in the future. B.E.

Published: May 30, 2003

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. For more articles by Blanche, click here.