Compass-CRMLS fight over listings ownership heats up 

The small print in an MLS agreement has set off a big dispute between Compass — the nation's largest brokerage — and one of the country's top multiple listing services.

It started earlier this week when Compass CEO Robert Reffkin accused the California Regional MLS of forcing "over 100,000 agents to accept a 10-page agreement giving CRMLS the right to SELL the agents' CONTENT and CONTRIBUTION."

"They were unable to do their jobs without signing away all rights to their content as access to the MLS was blocked until they clicked 'agree,'" Reffkin said in his post. "Does this seem right to you?"

Now Art Carter, CEO of CRMLS, has provided a lengthy statement in response. His main points:

• The specific language Reffkin pointed out is not new.

• New additions to the end user licensing agreement (EULA) relate to multifactor authentication and arbitration appeals.

"CRMLS's EULA doesn't endorse taking control of listings away from agents or brokers or improperly profiting from them," Carter said. "Instead, its goal is to provide benefits back to the brokerage community for the listing content provided."

CRMLS declined to provide Real Estate News with copies of its current and previous EULA. Reffkin offered a link to the current version in his post, and Compass declined further comment.

A closer look at listings control 

The section of the agreement highlighted by Reffkin is this:

"By submitting YOUR CONTRIBUTION and YOUR CONTENT to the MLS, YOU grant to CRMLS an irrevocable, unrestricted, transferable, perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive license (with right to sublicense) to use, store, reproduce, compile, display, distribute and to make derivative works from YOUR CONTRIBUTION and YOUR CONTENT."

Carter said the language in question is necessary to enable copyright protection and allow MLSs to monetize listings in the aggregate and then "bring that value back to brokers."

Previously, the Copyright Office considered MLS data to be "just a directory, meaning the information could not be copyrighted," Carter said. "In response, CRMLS and other MLSs worked together to educate the Copyright Office on the creative elements within MLS listings" — such as the unique content in each data field, and how it all comes together.

"As a result, the Copyright Office has since recognized MLS listings as eligible for protection, allowing us to better protect agents' work from unauthorized use," Carter said.

Data for sale?

What about the sale of agents' content that Reffkin called out, triggering a flood of responses from concerned real estate professionals?

Mission Realty Advisors CEO Eric Johnson, in a comment on Reffkin's post, called CRMLS' agreement "another example of MLSs quietly shifting control away from the people who actually create the value and serve their clients."

Carter said the MLS serves its users by managing the data they provide "as a set, not as a bunch of individual fragments." 

"If every agent were to have individual ownership of their listing, then every use of the data outside the MLS (think AVMs or IDX feeds) would require approval from all the thousands of CRMLS brokers. That's unfeasible," he added.

Putting 'money back in the pockets' of brokers, agents

Carter said the sale of MLS data isn't new — and it's a multimillion-dollar market. What's changed, at least to some degree, is who benefits.

"For years, we had seen grey market activity by people who have access to the MLS selling its data to those who didn't, which meant brokers and agents weren't being compensated for the valuable information they provided," Carter said.

So CRMLS teamed up with other MLSs to create REdistribute and monetize that data "in a way that puts money back in the pockets of those who provided it," Carter said.

"Have we asked for certain elements of control over listing data? Yes. Have we done it to enrich ourselves? Absolutely not."