As many of our real estate followers may know, for the last year, we have been encouraging local brokers and real estate agents to formalize their ownership rights with respect to MLS content (including photographs and listing descriptions) by way of copyright assignment or license agreements.

As of Monday, the National Association of Realtors is now making this mandatory. The Board of Directors voted to require that listing brokers own or have the authority to license all listing content to be published in the MLS prior to submitting such content to the MLS. Click on this article more information on the changes to the Policy Handbook.

For those looking for more information on how to utilize a copyright license or assignment in the MLS context, Realcomp subscribers can visit Realcomp.com to download our Copyright Best Practices publication, which includes sample agreements.