Social media – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube – is increasingly used by members who want to know how, or if, they can use CREA’s trademarks including REALTOR®, REALTORS®, MLS® and Multiple Listing Service® in social media. Here is the CREA’s advice:
Whether or not members can use CREA’s trademarks on social media depends on how they are using the marks. The general rule is that all of the policies that apply to the use of CREA’s trademarks in the “real” world also apply in the electronic world.
This means that both the MLS® trademarks (MLS® and Multiple Listing Service) and REALTOR® trademarks (REALTOR® and REALTORS®) may be used in a tweet or posting on social media provided they are always spelled exactly as registered. The term MLS® is to be spelled all in capitals, as are the first letters in Multiple Listing Service®. Similarly, the terms REALTOR® and REALTORS® are to be spelled all in capitals. All of CREA’s trademarks should be followed by the registered trademark symbol.
Where possible, when using the MLS® or REALTOR® trademarks in a tweet or posting, REALTOR® members are encouraged to include a statement that trademarks are trademarks of The Canadian Real Estate Association.
Specific rules have been created for user names.
REALTOR® members should remember that they cannot use the MLS® family of trademarks (MLS®, and Multiple Listing Service®) in their user names, email addresses or other forms of identification information in social media.
The REALTOR® trademarks may be used in user names, email addresses and other forms of identification information in Social Media. All of the general context and form rules apply, with the following exceptions:
1. The REALTOR® trademarks do not need to be entirely capitalized.
2. The ® registration symbol does not need to be displayed with every use of the marks.
The following general rules still apply:
1. The REALTOR® trademarks can be used in conjunction with a REALTOR® member’s name or a member’s business name, but it cannot be used as part of a business name (e.g. ABC REALTORS® is wrong; ABC Ltd., REALTORS® is acceptable).
2. The REALTOR® trademarks should be separated from a corporate or individual name by punctuation, where possible.
3. The REALTOR® trademarks must never be modified by adjectives (e.g., Top Selling REALTOR®, Commercial REALTOR®, Toronto REALTOR®, and Your Family REALTOR® are all improper).
Although not required, members are encouraged to use capitalization and the ® registered symbol in user names, email addresses and other forms of identification information where possible.
For example, Twitter users have a username, which is the name that appears in the URL of a profile page. Extension of CREA’s usage rules to Twitter means that members can use the REALTOR® trademark as part of their real name and username if it is used correctly. Twitter allows underscores to be included in usernames so @ABCRealty_REALTORS would be an acceptable username.
Is this clear as mud? If you would like to learn more about the sometimes murky world of trademarks, CREA publishes a very good information brochure titled: Trademark Manual (last updated in November 2013). You can download a PDF of this document from CREA’s home page on REALTOR Link.ca.