Tue
Real Estate 2.0 (TM)
Posted by Marlow Harris under Real Estate
[14] Comments
Oh, this is rich. When Joel Burslem at The Future of Real Estate Marketing first noted several months ago that Redfin had copyrighted the term “Real Estate 2.0″, I thought he was kidding.
Well.
I had noted just yesterday the new blog entitled “Real Estate 2.0″.
Less than 24 hours later, the author of that blog shared a letter he received from Eric Heller, the director of marketing at Redfin, asking him to stop using the tagline, Real Estate 2.0, as it is now a registered trademark of the Redfin Corporation.
Are they kidding?
The kings of real estate copyright infringement are going after this guy for a little Word Press blog? Please!
Redfin continuously publishes copyrighted photos on their blog, without permission of the owners. They flaunt and ignore NWMLS rules regarding other brokers listings, advertising them against their wishes and without their permission on their Redfin Blog.
They single out individual agents for purported misbehavior and then turn around and misappropriate listings and photos by that same agent, violating copyright laws.
They have even taken my photos and listings and used them on their blog. (I don’t mind, as I like all the free advertising I can get. Technically, however, those listings don’t belong to me but to my Brokerage, and they have not given Redfin permission to republish or advertise them.)
In our state, only the designated broker for a firm can lodge a complaint against another broker, so I won’t be pushing this issue any further.
However, they must know that someone else could. They’ll probably argue that a “blog” is not really “advertising”, or it’s protected free speech or something like that….
Basic facts about trademarks
Harvard’s overview of Trademark Law
Avoid trademark infringement when choosing a domain name.
**UPDATE**
Oh god, it just gets better….
Redfin Does Not Own Registered Trademark “Real Estate 2.0″ from Sellsius° blog
14 Responses to “ Real Estate 2.0 (TM) ”
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[...] There seems to be more egg available than faces to wear it. [...]
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[...] Thanks to Matt Carter of Inman News for mentioning our findings in his blog post, As the Blog World Turns. Marlow Harris got the ball rolling at 360Digest, and the story picked up momentum (no, wait — the story heated up) when sellsius real estate blog reported that Redfin has merely APPLIED for the trademark to Real Estate 2.0 (sorry there should be a little degree symbol after sellsius, but I don’t know how to produce that in blogger, or the “TM” symbol, which no self respecting journalist would deign to use anyway). [...]
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[...] Real Estate 2.0 â„¢ [360 Digest] This poster says that Redfin using copyrighted material without permission all the time and they do not have a registered trademark on the term “Real Estate 2.0″ according to our friends at Sellsius [...]
It was a boneheaded move for them to enforce that trademark. Going after the little guy never looks good.
And do you remember, just a little over a week ago Ardell was suggesting a “Two Week Moratorium for Redfin Critics”? http://www.raincityguide.com/2006/09/11/a-two-week-moratorium-for-redfin-critics/
Geez, I thought Kelman was supposed to on his honeymoon or something like that.
Its a shame sites are using broker listing for their own benefit without the brokers consent.
Richard Johnston
http://www.estates.la
C.J. I’d have to say all bets are off…this one is just too big to keep a lid on until Glenn gets back.
Eric Heller of Redfin wrote the now infamous email. So far, I can’t tell if he wrote it while Glenn was off on his honeymoon. If he did…I’d say the fur is going to fly come next week when Glenn returns. Hope he doesn’t hear about this and have to cut the trip short.
We regret if the news disturbed Glenn. But it’s not personal. I felt bad for RE 2.X0 who must have had a few sleepless nights. Legal letters have that effect.
His Director of Marketing should have waited or let a professional (lawyer) write the letter.
It’s just one more example why experienced professionals are essential in real estate & any other field & why you should be wary of non-professionals & computers (you noticed I didn’t say zillow)
Well, that’s the problem with the world. The experienced are less innovative, and the innovators are less experienced. Whatcha gonna do…
They got no compunction about taking a TV news segment about their company and uploadig it to YouTube, in violation of U.S. copyright law.
blog.redfin.com/blog/sfbay/2006/07/redfin_bay_area_customers_hit.html
Do you think, as the boss is on vacation someone got a little over zealous?
However these folks don’t seem like the type to issue an apology. In fact with their PR firm this will never go beyond the blog world.
Who is their PR firm?