Increasingly more every year, Real Estate Agents across the country are being hit with lawsuits, cease and desist letters, and large bills for using photos without permission. To anyone who doesn’t know better, it seems innocent enough to use a photo from Google or another website to help advertise your listing. Copyright law, however, does not allow ignorance of the law as an excuse.

New technologies allow photo copyright holders to easily search the internet for their photos and see where the photo is being used. When you consider that listing photos are syndicated to hundreds of websites, some of which are among the topmost visited websites, you can see that it is easy to get caught in this snare.

So how can you ensure that you are protecting yourself and your business from these legal issues? Ask yourself the following three questions:

• Did I capture the picture myself?
• Have I paid someone to use this photo?
• Do I have written permission to use this photo?

Simply put - if the answer to all three of these questions is no, do not use the photo!

To go into a little more detail, one example is that a seller has a home listed with REALTOR® Andrew. REALTOR® Andrew pays for professional photos, but the home does not sell. Seller relists with REALTOR® Barbara, and gives the photos to REALTOR® Barbara to use. REALTOR® Barbara added these photos to the MLS, believing the seller’s permission is the only thing she needed.

There are a few problems in this case - first is that while REALTOR® Andrew purchased the license to use the photos, they did not purchase the actual copyright to the photo - this is common practice with photographers. Second, the license to display the photos belongs only to REALTOR® Andrew, NOT the seller, so the seller had no right to pass the information on in the first place.

The person who takes the photos, in this case, the professional photographer, owns all of the rights to the photo. Because REALTOR® Barbara is using the photos without permission, the Photographer could legally pursue damages. Alternatively, REALTOR® Barbara could reach out to the Photographer and work out an agreement to pay for the license to the photos herself in order to use them.

Richard Gibbens is the SWMLS Director at GAAR. Richard hails from Panama City, Florida, and has been involved with CMLS and RESO to help drive the MLS industry forward. Richard, wife Kayla and young daughter Claire are happily adjusting to the red and green. Richard is a long-suffering fan of the Miami Dolphins, a Florida Gators alumni, an avid LEGO fan, and enjoys trail riding in his Jeep.