May 4th - 2003

Injunction issued to protect mls.ca data

The Canadian Real Estate Association has been awarded an interlocutory injunction by the Quebec Superior Court that protects the listings displayed on the mls.ca web site.

The Canadian Real Estate Association has been awarded an interlocutory injunction by the Quebec Superior Court that protects the listings displayed on the mls.ca web site. CREA filed the application for an injunction to stop Sutton Quebec Inc. from using data from the mls.ca web site in an unauthorized manner.

The court action claimed that Sutton Quebec Inc. was using listing information from mls.ca for Quebec properties that did not originate from Sutton brokers. The company had been modifying the listing, then displaying it on the Sutton Quebec Inc. web site surrounded by Sutton "branding".

This is technically referred to as "screen scraping" and was being done without the permission of the listing brokers, and without the permission of The Canadian Real Estate Association, as operator of the mls.ca web site.

CREA argued in its claim that the "screen scraping" constituted a breach of the terms and conditions of the use of the mls.ca web site, which specifically prohibit downloading, altering, modifying or the merger of listings in another database. CREA also argued that the actions of Sutton Quebec Inc. and the "scraping" of listing information was an infringement of the association's copyright of the mls.ca database.

In her decision, Quebec Superior Court Justice Carole Julien wrote that if the injunction was not issued, "the integrity of the mls.ca web site is threatened....and the discipline imposed by CREA to brokers and salespersons by virtue of the Terms of Use would no longer be applicable." She also added that, "the use of the mls.ca web site would then be subject to the technology power grab of each broker and salesperson."

The injunction requested involves taking action in a matter of private right related to property, copyright and compliance with an agreement between the parties, Justice Julien noted in the decision. "CREA's property right with regards to the web site seems clear. CREA has spent financial and technological resources to create this site, which it manages and organizes."

The injunction orders Sutton Quebec Inc. to stop all use of mls.ca listing data, unless in accordance with the web site Terms of Use. Source: CREA (Note: The quotations included in this communiqué have been translated from the French language original court documents)

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The trademarks REALTOR®, REALTORS®, and the REALTOR® logo are controlled by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify real estate professionals who are members of CREA. The trademarks MLS®, Multiple Listing Service® and the associated logos are owned by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify the quality of services provided by real estate professionals who are members of CREA. Used under license.

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