The real estate industry is grappling with copyright concerns and theft of Internet-related technology while competition heats up and the World Wide Web becomes more important in the homebuying process.

Locally, while the practice of copying home listing information off of one site and pasting it onto another has not yet surfaced, those in the industry are exercising caution as the real estate transaction enters into the new millennium. But unauthorized use of the concepts and technology behind a Web page is already commonplace, according to one Realtor who has taken steps to protect his product.

The issue of who owns photographs of homes for sale posted on the Internet became clouded last week after a decision handed down in U.S. District Court in Southern California.

In that case, a photographer found copies of his work on a Web site and filed suit against the company running that site alleging breach of copyright under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That act protects the copyrights of databases, such as multiple listing services, as well as digital images. The National Association of Realtors lobbied early last year in support of the legislation.

The judge in the case ruled the use of the photographs was justified under the fair use doctrine, which allows secondary sites to use information from primary sources as long as they identify the source. The photographer is considering filing an appeal.

The decision leaves open the possibility of real estate agents lifting images and information from other agents’ sites and posting it themselves. Homebuyers might then contact the secondary agent, who could then seek a referral fee from the first agent for finding the potential buyer. Also adding to the confusion is the relative openness and accessibility of an MLS, which allows all of its members to view all of its listings.

Because of the MLS, content theft has not yet been a problem in Massachusetts, according to one Realtor.

I think you run into [content theft] more outside of our industry right now, said Jay Burnham, associate vice president of The DeWolfe Co. in Beverly, who runs www.northshorerealestate.com. When a seller lists with us, we’re allowed to disseminate the information to the MLS, so someone else can use it. But if another Realtor uses that information and posts it as their own, they can’t do that.

Though he said he hadn’t heard of that happening on the Internet, he added: I bet it’s going to happen soon. Burnham said he heard of an incident recently where a customer called a broker who ran a newspaper advertisement for land in Manchester, but the broker had no listings in that town.

It turned out to be terribly confusing for the buyer, he said. That was an incident of stepping up to the line, and possibly crossing over it … As everything becomes freer and freer on the Internet, it’ll come closer and closer to crossing the line.

Burnham said one example of a blurring of the line is a new MLS feature that allows agents to e-mail clients with pictures and information about selected properties that meet the buyer’s criteria. Is that a case of advertising someone else’s property? Almost, he said.

Burnham said he has a number of safeguards in place should any incident occur where his listings are copied and posted to another site. He also said we would notify his MLS about the infraction to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Kathleen E. Condon, director of operations for MLS Property Information Network, the state’s largest MLS, said she has not yet heard of any instances of local agents stealing listings either from another agents’ site or from the MLS. But she added that incidents in other parts of the country have prompted the MLS Board of Directors to look into the possibility of copyright infringement.

It has been discussed, she said. We’ve looked at the situation, but so far we have not come up with any policy. Condon added that the issue will most likely be discussed at the board’s Jan. 18 meeting, and a special task force is expected to be formed.

The board will also look at disclosure laws regarding Internet listings. Condon said MLS-PIN wants to make sure its members’ listings are properly protected. It’s their lifeline, she said.

Stealing Concepts
Steve Levine, a Realtor with RE/MAX First Choice in Northborough, said incidents of copying from his Web site, www.shrewsbury-ma.com, have centered not on his listings, but the codes and the concepts that helped create the site.

The big issue is people taking the technique and stealing it, he said. For example, Levine said other sites have copied different codes used in his Web site and pasted onto their own in hopes of achieving a better position in a search engine.

In an instance like that, a prospective homebuyer typing Shrewsbury real estate into a search engine may be directed to a competitor’s site instead of Levine’s page, which could cost him a referral or a sale.

As much as the Internet is having an influence on the real estate industry, it’s not convincing any more people to buy homes, he said. You have the same number of people out there, they’re just accessing the information differently. The Web sites aren’t going to convince people to buy, but who they buy from.

To protect the content of his site, Levine posts a disclaimer at the bottom of his primary page. In addition to stating that no content may be copied without permission, it further states: A tracking device has been installed in this Web site that detects and notifies Steve Levine whenever any content and/or graphics are copied from this Web site. Your identity will be revealed … and any person(s) that are found to have stolen content and/or graphics from this Web site will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Levine said he recently discovered one of the big players in the online real estate world had copied code from his site for use on its own site. After his software notified him of the copying, he contacted the company, which apologized, removed the code and terminated the party responsible for the copying.

Levine would not disclose who the big player was, only saying, If someone does a search, they’ll see there are only one or two sites out there that have over a million listings.

There are a lot of people out there trying to get ahead, Levine said. That’s like going to Sonsie and taking the fried calamari home in a doggie bag to analyze how it’s made, or hiring the assistant to the assistant chef to come work for them and produce the same thing.

So far, Levine said he has not had to prosecute anyone for copyright infringement for stealing code or content from his site. Usually I just ask and they take it down right away and apologize, he said.