CAN I USE “REALTOR®” IN MY DOMAIN OR EMAIL NAME?
REALTORS® often want to
use the REALTOR® marks as part of their domain name or address to distinguish
themselves, but the rules governing proper use of the REALTOR® marks must be
adhered to at all times regardless of the media used. The National Association
of REALTORS®’ primary rules affecting use of the REALTOR® marks in domain names
and email addresses state:
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®.
For more information on the use of the REALTOR®
term and logo, go to www.realtor.org