Washington Report

Advocacy Updates from Washington D.C.

NAR Seeking Members Contacted by Patent Trolls

Have you received a demand letter from a “patent troll”? We want to hear from you.

Companies, often referred to as patent trolls, are buying up broad patents and using them to threaten small businesses and individuals, including REALTORS(R). Some of the recent examples of patent troll demands that our members have received involved a patent related to websites that allow users to locate, search for, and transmit property information to others and a patent related to use of scanner copier machines.

NAR is working on several fronts to fix loopholes in the patent litigation system that allow patent trolls to continue to threaten unsuspecting businesses and end users in this way. BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP. If you have received a demand letter seeking a licensing fee for a technology or process used in your business please contact us.  We would like to learn from you how widespread this issue is for the real estate industry in order to most effectively assist in finding a solution. Even if you received a letter and paid a licensing fee, we’d like to hear from you.

Please send me an email: mwyne@realtors.org or Kjohnson@realtors.org and we'll get in touch with you.

For more information on the importance of patent litigation reform to the real estate industry and NAR’s position, visit: http://www.nar.realtor/topics/patent-litigation-reform

Visit NAR's Patent Litigation Reform page

Notice: The information on this page may not be current. The archive is a collection of content previously published on one or more NAR web properties. Archive pages are not updated and may no longer be accurate. Users must independently verify the accuracy and currency of the information found here. The National Association of REALTORS® disclaims all liability for any loss or injury resulting from the use of the information or data found on this page.

Advertisement