Osceola ReVIEW - May 2008 - (Page 6)

Communications News By Gwen Dukes, Director of Communications RULES GOVERN PROPER USE Of REALTOR® TRADEMARk When surfing the Web for real estate homepages, it’s quite common to come across sites belonging to REALTORS®. If you are looking to add your own electronic presence on the Internet, it is easy to get caught up in designing your own web page and choosing a domain name that will capture the attention of surfers and make you easily identifiable. REALTORS® often want to use the REALTOR® marks as part of their domain name or address to distinguish themselves, but they must keep in mind that there are rules governing proper use of the REALTOR® marks that must be adhered to at all times regardless of the media used. These rules are found in the National Association’s Membership Marks Manual, a reference manual explaining proper use of the REALTOR® marks, including correct and incorrect uses. Here is a brief list of the principle rules affecting use of the REALTOR® marks in domain names: 1. The term REALTOR®, whether used as part of a domain name or in some other fashion, must refer to a member or a member’s firm. 2. The term REALTOR® may not be used with descriptive words or phrases. For example, Number1realtor.com, numberone-realtor.com, chicagorealtors.org or realtorproperties.com are all incorrect. 3. For use as a domain name or email address on the Internet, the term REALTOR® does not need to be separated from the member’s name or firm name with punctuation. For example, both johndoe-realtor.com and johndorealtor. com would be correct uses of the term as a 6 part of domain names and jdoe*realtors@ webnetservices.com and jdoerealtors@web netservices.com are both correct uses of the term as part of an email address. The public has adopted the use of all lower case letters when writing domain names, even those containing trademarks. Therefore, for purposes of domain names and Internet addresses only, there is an exception to the rule on capitalization of the term REALTOR® and it may appear in lower case letters. Whether you use traditional media or the Internet, it is essential to use the REALTOR® marks in accordance with the rules and guidelines of the National Association. The REALTOR® marks should only be used to denote membership in the National Association of REALTORS®. NO MATTER HOW YOU SAY IT…. The term REALTOR® should always be pronounced with two syllables, accented on the first. The phonetic spelling is Reel’-tor, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying to turn REALTOR® into a three-syllable word. The word REALTOR® signifies more than merely board and NAR membership, it denotes that the person adheres to the Code of Ethics of the National Association of REALTORS® and thereby has become a part of his/her own code of honor. ■ A CLEAR CHOICE TITLE & ESCROW OF OSCEOLA, LLC Tammy Bowers Manager P: (407) 892-6800 F: (407) 892-6802 119 E 13th Street St Cloud, FL 34769 tammy.bowers@aclearchoicetitle.com www.aclearchoicetitle.com Osceola ReVIEW May 2008 http://www.aclearchoicetitle.com http://www.aclearchoicetitle.com

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Osceola ReVIEW - May 2008 President's Perspective CEO Perspective Communication News Education Corner Commercial Real Estate Association Newsmakers Legal Ease Sponsors May 2008 Monthly Planner

Osceola ReVIEW - May 2008

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