<HTML> <HEAD> <title>WebForm1</title> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 7.1"> <meta name="CODE_LANGUAGE" content="Visual Basic .NET 7.1"> <meta name="vs_defaultClientScript" content="JavaScript"> <meta name="vs_targetSchema" content="http://schemas.microsoft.com/intellisense/ie5"> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content='text/html; charset=UTF-8'> </HEAD> <body > <TABLE id="Table1" cellSpacing="1" cellPadding="1" width="100%" border="0"> <TR> <TD><b>Comment Number:</b></TD> <TD>518795-00008</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Received Date:</b></TD> <TD>9/24/2005 5:57:48 PM</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Organization:</b></TD> <TD>Sellsius, LLC</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Commenter:</b></TD> <TD>Ferrara, J.</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>State:</b></TD> <TD>DE</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Agency:</b></TD> <TD>Federal Trade Commission</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Rule:</b></TD> <TD>Competition Policy and the Real Estate Industry</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Docket ID:</b></TD> <TD>To Be Added</TD> </TR> <TR> <td colspan='2'>No Attachments</td> </TR> </TABLE> <hr/> <b>Comments:</b><br/><br/> There are 2 sides to the real estate transaction, buyer &amp; seller. Anything which keeps the two from meeting sooner should be discouraged. Currently, buyers, or buyer's brokers, have to search many sources to find property. As a buyer's broker, I had to go to various websites and copy the listings (there is a print function on each listing) or email them (also this function) to show to my buyer. This is fair use and custom &amp; practice in the industry. The fact that the websites have these functions underscores that the listings must be made available to the potential buyer. But the current system is very time consuming. [With a "perishable" commodity like real estate, time wasted causes many buyers to lose the opportunity to see and bid on a property.] If technology can do what is already being done faster &amp; more efficiently, without legal injury (provable money damages), let it. Aggregators, deep linkers and scrapers (a negative term to create a bias) help the consumer by pooling the listings so consumers, or their agents, do not have to visit numerous sites. To allow only Realtor.com to be the sole aggregator because of its contracts w/MLS (or other select aggregators it chooses), which neither buyer or seller are a party to, is anti-competitive and a restraint of trade. The problem (and weapon of Realtor) has been legal theories. Displaying a listing which has copyrighted material (those flowery descriptions with enticing photos) is argueably "technically" illegal or unfair competiton (that poor broker had to slave over that flowery language and pick just the right photo). And this is what fuels the legal debate and causes lawsuits which "chill" companies with creative technology from giving buyers the listings information. The legal (affirmative) defense of "Fair use" has resolved the listings display issues when the elements are satisfied or the balance is in favor of the act. And let's not forget the First Amendment as it has been interpreted to include the public's "right to know" (see Zapruder). And what about the seller? I know of none who have joined in the cases claiming unfair dissemination of a property listing. Sellers just want to sell. But the realtor wants to sell &amp; get a commission, preferably one that doesn't have to be shared with another broker. It is the interest of the seller that should prevail (the Realtor Code of Ethics says so). After all, if the realtor is the listing broker he will get paid. There is no reason to have a system that favors the realtor getting the full commission at the expense of the seller and buyer meeting as soon as possible. The solution easiest to legally support is that the FACTS of a listing (# of bedrooms, baths, price, square footage, etc.) are FREE for display and dissemination. Facts are not copyrightable. If facts are displayed and then a consumer is pointed to a web page with the listing, the buyer and seller have met sooner and the realtor gets a commission (although he or she may have to split it if it was a buyer's broker who used the technology to find the listing for his buyer). You can expect Realtor to object to this, despite his commission, because a buyer came in the side door and not the home page and thus Realtor lost added revenue from banner ads and lead capture devices on its home page. Disregarding that the seller was served by the sale, the agent was paid a commission, and the Code of Ethics favored this result, Realtor can still make its additional revenue by simply putting ads and other lead capture on the individual listings page, as they already do. In summary: 1. any technology which speeds up &amp; makes more efficient what is already common trade custom &amp; practice must be legal and anything that interferes with this technology is anti-competitive 2. Facts of a listing are free for anyone to display 3. There is no proven money damage to Realtor and none to the seller with wider dissemination </body> </HTML>