When surfing the Web for real estate
homepages, it's quite common to come across
sites belonging to REALTORS®.
If you are looking to add your own
electronic presence on the Internet, it is
easy to get caught up in designing your own
web page and choosing a domain name which
will capture the attention of surfers and
make you easily identifiable. REALTORS®
often want to use the REALTOR®
marks as part of their domain name or
address to distinguish themselves, but they
must keep in mind that there are rules
governing proper use of the REALTOR®
marks that must be adhered to at all times
regardless of the media used. These rules
are found in the National Association's
Membership Marks Manual, a reference manual
explaining proper use of the REALTOR®
marks including examples of correct and
incorrect uses. Here is a brief list of the
principle rules affecting use of the REALTOR®
marks in domain names:
1. The term REALTOR®,
whether used as part of a domain name or in
some other fashion must refer to a member or
a member's firm.
2. The term REALTOR®
may not be used with descriptive words or
phrases. For example, Number1realtor.com,
numberone-realtor.com, chicagorealtors.org
or realtorproperties.com are all incorrect.
3. For use as a domain name or e-mail
address on the Internet the term REALTOR®
does not need to be separated from the
member's name or firm name with punctuation.
For example, both johndoe-realtor.com and
johndoerealtor.com would be correct uses of
the term as a part of domain names and jdoe*realtors@webnetservices.com
and jdoerealtors@webnetservices.com are both
correct uses of the term as part of an
e-mail address.
4. The REALTOR®
block R logo should not be used as hypertext
links at a web site as such uses can suggest
an endorsement or recommendation of the
linked site by your Association. The only
exception would be to establish a link to
the National Association's web site,
REALTOR.org, or its official property
listing site, REALTOR.com.
The public has adopted the use of all lower
case letters when writing domain names, even
those containing trademarks. Therefore, for
purposes of domain names and internet
addresses only, there is an exception to the
rule on capitalization of the term REALTOR®
and it may appear in lower case letters.
Whether you use traditional print media or
the Internet, it is essential to use the
REALTOR®
marks in accordance with the rules and
guidelines of the National Association. The
REALTOR®
marks should only be used to denote
membership in the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
REALTORS®.