REALTOR.ORG Wants to Take My Domain... WTF!?!

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Traska

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May 7, 2008
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I recently Registered the domain http://www.realtorsvancouverwa.com to possibly develop and sell to a realtor's group in Vancouver, WA.

Anyways, I check my email this morning to find this Bullshit in my inbox.

REALTOR.ORG Trademark Administrator said:
Dear Sir or Madam:

The Internet domain name, realtorsvancouverwa.com, which you have recently registered and is currently parked has been identified by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS as one in which the membership marks of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS (National Association) are used as a part of the domain name. The domain name came to our attention as a result of our monitoring of the Internet for use of the REALTOR membership marks. The terms REALTOR, REALTORS, and REALTOR-ASSOCIATE, as well as the REALTOR block "R" logo, are all federally registered collective membership marks owned by the National Association. Collective membership marks are a type of trademark which, rather than indicating the source of a product or service, identify the user of the membership mark as a member of a particular group, in this case the National Association.

MEMBER USE - PLEASE REVIEW THE RULES
The National Association has over 1,200,000 members each of whom is licensed to use one or more of the membership marks to identify themselves and their real estate businesses. Over twenty-five years ago, the National Association developed a comprehensive set of rules governing the proper use of the membership marks by its members to accomplish this in an orderly manner. These rules still apply not only in the print world, but also in the electronic media. Members of the National Association may find information on the proper use of the membership marks in the Membership Marks Manual which is posted on our website at www.REALTOR.org. The Manual can be found by clicking on the following links: -“Law & Policy” and “REALTOR Trademark Rules.” If you are a member, please review these rules to determine whether your domain name is proper and if you have any questions, please contact me by replying to this email.

NON-MEMBER USE
If you are not a member your use of the membership marks is incorrect and not authorized by the National Association. Because the use has not been authorized it may also be viewed as an infringement of the National Association's legal rights in its membership marks under the federal Lanham Act and other state and federal laws. To eliminate this potential source of conflict, we would appreciate your cooperation in revising your site and/or domain name to eliminate any use of the membership marks. Many times this is as simple as substituting an appropriate job title for the term being used, for example, real estate broker can often be used without making any other changes to the text. If you would like to read more about trademarks and the rights of trademark owners, there are a number of sites on the Internet, which address this topic.

We are attempting to track our efforts in connection with the Internet and request that you acknowledge your understanding of this request for your cooperation and provide us with your assurance that you will not use this domain name. Our e-mail address is trademark@Realtors.org. Thank you for your help and we look forward to receiving your reply.

Mary Newill, Trademark Administrator
Legal Affairs Department
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
430 N. Michigan
Chicago, IL 60611-4087


Is this BS or should I take this seriously?

I don't want any legal trouble...
 


I would not respond. They're full of shit, but they'll never admit it.
They're asking for your cooperation, not saying they'll sue the piss out of you(not yet anyways). It looks like they don't even know if you're a member of their organization.
So just don't give cooperate.

Edit: I'll take my lumps on this one. Jumped the gun. I'm not as sure. But I still wouldn't respond.
 
The National Association of Realtor's is known as a HUGE protector of their trademark because it is used in common language so frequently. I've heard of them going after people pretty hard.

I would drop it and buy agentsvancouverwa.com.
 
Wait at least till they send you something a little more official. If you get served papers, then you can start freaking.
 
Just change your legal name to "Realtor" and you shouldn't have any trouble. Tell them it's a personal website.
 
If the site ever has any great success you will have legal issues. You should inquire about NAR membership in case the site is successful.

My point is if you have spent time and money on a site and 3 years later it is making nice $$ you don't want to lose it over a trademark issue. And you DO NOT want to be in court over trademark issues. Thems the big bucks atty's and would spend tens of thousands fast.

Don't be stupid, just check it out before investing time/money into site. Ignoring it and continuing site development would be retarded. I don't know about you, but when I invest time and money into something, I want it to stick.
 
They have to enforce the Tradename if they are ever to REALLY sue for it...

If they don't, people can run over the tradename like whoa
 
I'm a realtor and had the same problem.

The issue is they reserve the rights to any city or descriptive name + city for use by the individual boards.

So BobRealtor.com is OK , but yourreator.com or newyorkrealtor.com wouldn't be ok.

I don't imagine they'll go the C&D route , but the problem exists in the fact the domain is worthless to any agents ,as if NAR finds out we own one , we'll lose our standing with them and that's a huge thing.
 
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