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Broker Homework Assignment: |
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Broker Tools | The DMCA (What is it?) |
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The Following information is not considered legal advice. Consult your legal counsel for any questions pertaining to the advisability of the DMCA within your brokerage. The Columbia Board of REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service cares about our Broker Participants and their agents – we want to provide you with the necessary tools to understand potential copyright issues and mitigate risk. One area of the MLS ripe with potential risk to a brokerage is copyrighted content. Listing photos & virtual content are uploaded to the Multiple Listing Service daily. This content may end up appearing on your brokerage website via IDX (Internet Data Exchange). If a photo submitted to the MLS that is copyrighted lands on your brokerage website unknowingly – there is potential for a Broker to end up in the middle of a copyright lawsuit. We strongly encourage you to take the next 30 minutes of your day to better understand this information and to implement the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) within your brokerage, if you haven’t already. |
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Don't have 30 minutes to spare right now? Make a plan to revisit this email when you do. |
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The information below can be a bit complex, but the steps to better protect you and your brokerage are fairly simple: |
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# 1: What is the DMCA? An example would be the display on your IDX website of an infringing photo loaded by another office into the MLS. Lawsuits surrounding the use and ownership of listing photos is not an uncommon trend. Unless you’re certain every listing photo displayed on your website (regardless of the listing ownership) has the proper rights for use, you could potentially be at risk for a similar lawsuit. |
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# 2: Watch this brief, yet informative video on the DMCA, provided by NAR: |
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Window to the Law: Copyright Protect Your Website from Copyright Liability | Video Duration: 3:23 |
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# 3: Register with the US Copyright Office Website & Designate a Takedown Agent |
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Brokers may choose to designate an agent to receive notifications of claimed copyright infringement. Thankfully, CBOR has already gone to the trouble of registering a Designated Agent for you to use. The US Copyright Office will charge you $6.00 to solidify the designation process for your brokerage. CBOR will reimburse you for this amount after successful completion of your submission. |
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Follow these Steps to Register Online: |
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Key Terms to Remember: |
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Elizabeth Wolf
Once you have successfully completed your online registration and designation, email liz@cbormls.com a copy of your $6.00 payment receipt, we will reimburse you on next monthly MLS dues statement. |
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#4: Post the DMCA Takedown Notice on Your Brokerage Website If you haven’t completed your registration/designation process with the US Copyright Office, DO NOT SIMPLY POST THE VERBIAGE ON YOUR WEBSITE: the DMCA Safe Harbor benefits apply if and only if you have successfully registered and designated an agent with the US Copyright office. |
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What Verbiage do I Publish? |
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Where do I Publish the Takedown Notice? |
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Looking for an Example?
CBOR’s website has a copy of the DMCA takedown verbiage at the bottom footer on the site, no matter where you have navigated. We have displayed as a link in the website footer but consult with your web provider on where they suggest you place the takedown verbiage:
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Awesome work! You've successfully added a tool to your Broker Toolbelt! Be on the lookout for the next Broker Tools email hitting your inbox. |