Posted by: The Tim

Tim Ellis is the founder of Seattle Bubble. His background in engineering and computer / internet technology, a fondness of data-based analysis of problems, and an addiction to spreadsheets all influence his perspective on the Seattle-area real estate market.

12 responses

  1. [...] H/T: Seattle Bubble Blog [...]

  2. Isn’t it against the MLS rules for Redfin to retain the listing photos and so on, after the sale?

  3. RE: Herman @ 2 – I don’t know. They couldn’t take them for a new listing, but I’m unaware of anything that would keep them from using them for this purpose. That doesn’t mean there isn’t such a rule though.

  4. RE: Herman @ 2 – There is a MLS rule against retaining one’s own photos?

  5. RE: AMS @ 4 – I think it’s talking about Redfin perhaps using my photos on one of my listings, for example, when they show sold listings. The chance of the photos they show being one of their own is rather slight, probably less than 1%. They are not a big player in listings.

  6. RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 5 – Copyright violation?

  7. RE: AMS @ 6 – Perhaps. And that might depend on whatever deal the agent has with the photographer.

  8. RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 7 – I’m sorry I didn’t go into the theory further.

    Let’s assume the agent owns the photos, or has all legal rights to the photos. (These are not high value photos. Agents probably don’t hire Ansel Adams…)

    So the agent owns the photos, but there is some MLS agreement. The agent allows/agrees that the photos may be used in some way. The copyright violation comes up when someone uses the photos outside of the scope of the agreement. (I guess this might be gray market photos?)

    (Of course we need to exclude the non-protected categories, such as fair use, but I doubt Redfin could claim fair use, or any of the other non-protected uses.)

  9. I’d agree. I was just pointing out that the owner of the photograph might not be a member of the NWMLS, and thus any rule the NWMLS has allowing the use of the photograph could still give rise to copyright issues.

  10. RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 9 – Oh, that goes a step beyond what I was thinking. If someone is using a photo for commercial use without any permission whatsoever, then that’s the worst case scenario.

    I doubt there is much hot linking, but when a hot linked photo is changed, often to porn, that’s where the hilarity begins.

    This does, in some way, remind me of how music is copied and the RIAA.

    The more interesting commentary comes when one compares the fencing of real estate to copyright laws. There was a time prior to all the bounds and restrictions that fences creates, and the same is true for literary works, except the land has been around longer than history.

  11. I don’t know jack about the legalities of it. All I know is that it’s super cool.

  12. I’m not sure I like the idea that photos of the inside of my house are easily found on the Internet. I mean, if I buy a house and there are old photos from a previous seller.

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