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Listing Service in the Virtual Tour Business
In the past few months, the #1 listing service here in the Metro Atlanta area has decided to offer their members FREE virtual tours. These tours are actually comprised of the photos posted on each listing and then put in to a slide show. Unfortunately I've lost a couple of clients because of these "tours". The real heartbreaker is that if a shoot stills for my client and they put them up, the listing service then takes MY copyrighted material and puts another virtual tour provider's logo on it!
I approached the listing service (and it seems I wasn't the only one in the area) and was promptly told that once the material is posted ie; pics, etc. They now OWN the pictures and all copyrights and can "do anything they want with the pictures". They also stated, "We're getting sick of hearing from you virtual tour providers" and then hung up on me! Are any of you out there experiencing this too?
Watermark each picture and include a copyright. I think the statement that once the images are on posted they are public domain is BS. If I'm correct YOU the photographer are the copyright owner, unless you have specifically agreed differently!
Perhaps you should contact the other tour providers, and then all approach the service, and consult an attorney.
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Sherri,
I'm the first one to get on my soapbox and yell about photos/tours being copyrighted, but I do believe that in this case the listing service may be correct.
Here in MA I believe the MLS has in their terms online that agents must abide by, that once photos or tours are uploaded to the MLS online listing, the MLS has the right to redistribute them and treat them as their own. This is how Realtor.com, trulia, ziprealty and all the other lesser online listing companies have photos with the listing - they have permission from the MLS to "suck them up" from the original listing along with the other info.
This is very different from your client, the agent, giving or selling the photos or tour to another agent without your permission. I would read their terms and conditions for listing info for agents before getting escalating the situation.
Okay... to clarify (I want to make sure I understand this correctly)
Sherri: are you saying that you created the photos, then the agent (your client) loads them to the MLS on the property listing? So the photos are stored on MLS servers, correct? Are the photos then transferred from the MLS servers to a 3rd-party tour provider? Or are these actually virtual tours provided by the MLS? This sounds bizarre and ridiculous...
There may be a clause in the MLS contract (your client's contract, not necessarily yours) stating that any images uploaded by the agent become the property of the MLS (which they can include in a contract legally).
The part I think has no legal basis is putting another provider's logo on the tour. I can't see how that would EVER be legal, even if it was in the contract, I don't know that you can do that (and it would have to be in the contract your CLIENT signed, because they uploaded the photos, non the vendor contract you have with the MLS).
If you need a good intellectual property attorney to get their take on it, I know several. I think most of them would talk to you on the phone (initially) for free. Let me know-- good luck!
