In a decision that bolsters Realtors' hard-fought position of denying public access to multiple listing services, a federal judge has ruled that an electronic home-sales listing run by a Montgomery County Realtors association deserves protection under copyright law.
The decision in U.S. District Court in Baltimore is expected to help define the degree of creativity needed to maintain exclusive rights in the business of collecting, organizing and selling
electronic data such as real estate sales and stock values.
The decision could have broad implications for other industries that compile data, said Edward T. Colbert, an attorney for the Montgomery County Association of Realtors.
Realtors have staunchly defended their right to restrict access to multiple listing services, the main tools they use to link buyers and sellers.
In his 33-page decision last Friday, Judge Benson Everett Legg found the Montgomery Realtors' multiple listing service to be more than a collection of simple facts, and thus deserving special protection.
The decision cited a landmark case in which the U.S. Supreme Court found that the mere alphabetical listing of names, towns and telephone numbers in a phone directory did not warrant copyright protection.
The Montgomery multiple listing service differed in that it "possesses at least some minimal degree of creativity," describes for-sale properties and uses a "unique and elaborate system of abbreviations in organizing its database," the ruling said.
The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit in which the Realtors $H association accused Realty Photo Master Corp. of copyright infringement, unfair competition, unauthorized wiretapping and misappropriation of trade secrets. In 1988, Realty Photo, a business started by a Potomac couple, began accessing the multiple listing service, using a customer's code. The company identified new-home listings, photographed the properties, then packaged the photos into a computer service to sell to Realtor members of the service.
Realty Photo filed a counter-suit against the Realtors association, charging it with violation of antitrust laws. Attorneys argued that the corporation needed multiple list information to provide a service -- one which enhanced, rather than competed with, Realtors' business -- and it therefore should get access.
Judge Legg's ruling said the association did not violate antitrust laws in its attempt to enforce its copyright. However, the ruling leaves the question of whether Realty Photo had infringed upon the copyright to a jury. David Huntington Williams, attorney for Realty Photo, said his clients have since gone out of business.