SNIPPET AND LINK. SNIPPET AND LINK. The above is a "snippet" of copy from the U.S. Copyright Office. Using a "snippet", a few lines of an original work copyright protected by another is considered "fair use". Fair Use means you can use a few lines, but not the entire work or substantial amounts of a work. So, if you wish to make a point that can be made by a member's writings, don't just copy their work, use a few lines and link to the original.
BUT, LENN, I DON'T WANT TO LINK OUT TO OTHERS. Mmmmmm. If you don't want to link out to others and their are good reasons not to, WRITE THE DAMN THING YOURSELF.
SOUND SIMPLE? It is, honest. Your work is copyright protected the instant it is written, even before it is published. THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE IS NOT REQUIRED FOR YOUR WORK TO BE PROTECTED.
If you didn't create it, don't use it! Create means write it, draw it, paint it, record it, etc.
THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE DOESN'T PROTECT ANYTHING. Anyone who wants to steal your work will simply crop the copyright notice off and use it anyway. The copyright notice and about $3.50 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
I have enough to remember to include my signature line without having to remember to include the copyright notice on my posts. I only have a few articles that include the copyright notice, articles for which I have registered a copyright. If someone steals one of them and I catch them, they will pay statutory damages which is up to $30,000 per use because the writing is registered. The rest of the stuff I write is just opinion and verbiage and not worthy of a $45 registration fee. I'd go broke.
WE'RE GROWN UPS HERE. Your work on ActiveRain is copyright protected. You don't have to do a thing. Will someone steal the work of others from time to time??? Sure. Will they get caught? Probably not. ActiveRain has published the copyright policy. That should be enough. We shouldn't need a copyright police force. Let the ActiveRain geniuses use their creative juices for more important matters. We can police our own works if we care.
GO AHEAD, MAKE MY DAY! Yes! This article is copyright protected because I wrote the damn thing myself. If you wish to link to it, copy a line or two and link away. If you care to REBLOG it via ActiveRain, be my guest, we'll both get some Google juice. If you care to copy and publish the entire article under your own name to create the impression that you wrote, created the article, go right ahead, live dangerously. I'm always on the prowl for copyright violators and when I catch someone using my intellectual property, I will make them pay and I AM RELENTLESS.
My attorney has copyright violation litigation and collection down to a fine art. You'll be noticed with a "CEASE & DESIST AND DEMAND FOR DAMAGES" letter. You will not be excused even if you remove my copyright protected material, images, articles, blog post, web site, maps, lists that I created, web site content, etc. from your web site. The reason I will still pursue the "DAMAGES" claim is because you have already USED AND BENEFITTED from the use of my copyright protected intellectual property.
If you do not agree to a negotiated settlement of my claim, we WILL file a lawsuit and it will be published in the normal places on the Internet. The latest was filed on February 5, 2009 against a builder in the area who used one of my maps on their web site. They have ignored our letters and so we filed. They will pay damages.
ACTIVERAIN IS PROACTIVE about copyright matters. See Copyright Laws and You - Here's All You'll EVER Need To Know . However, they can't be expected to read every word published on this massive blog with 130,000 plus members. PROTECT YOUR OWN MATERIAL.
IF YOU DIDN'T CREATE IT, DON'T USE IT.
========= Previously published articles on ActiveRain about copyright =========
copyright: PLEASE DON'T PUT COPYRIGHT PROTECTED CARTOONS IN COMMENTS ON MY BLOG. - 02/02/09 05:29 PM I GOT A NICE COMMENT ON ONE OF MY POSTS TODAY that included a large cartoon. The cartoon was clearly a professionally produced and syndicated one. If the cartoon has been purchased for republish, there was no notice. If the cartoon has been purchased for any use, there was no notice. If ... (26 comments)
copyright: IF YOU'VE BEEN VIOLATED BY A COPYRIGHT THIEF, DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT! - 11/26/08 03:15 PM This post inspired by Tracy Santrock's excellent post describing her experience discovering that her content had been stolen and used by a competitor. I could surely identify with her feelings of shock, disappointment and finally outrage. I have felt those same emotions many times, each time I discover one of my location ... (35 comments)
copyright: COPYRIGHT. I KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO HATE ME NOW! - 11/06/08 09:53 AM CAN or SHOULD YOU USE VIDEOS FROM YOUTUBE.COM? FROM THE YOUTUBE COMMUNITY GUIDELINES: Respect copyright. Only upload videos that you made or that you are authorized to use. This means don't upload videos you didn't make, . . . . More. . . . . Copyright Guideline. When you create something ... (77 comments)
copyright: COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT DAMAGES SETTLED. - 08/27/08 07:14 PM The recent posts about Copyright by Carole Provenzale last week was very timely. At the time I read the post, I had three copyright infringement cases going. One just settled Monday of this week. The only way to stop copyright violators is to make them pay. The violator in the case ... (41 comments)
copyright: HOW TO "STAKE YOURSELF OUT" AND WAIT FOR THE COPYRIGHT STAMPEDE - 07/02/08 12:28 PM IT'S COPYRIGHT TIME AGAIN. This post inspired by Robert Lockhard, Bloggers beware! Copyright battle might be coming. Fair Use? Or, an invitation to a Cease and Desist Notice and Demand for Damages? From Title 17 of the U.S. Code: Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the ... (63 comments)
copyright: COPYRIGHT WARNING: DON'T LET A $1,000 DAMAGE DEMAND TURN INTO A $15,000 SETTLEMENT! - 06/04/08 12:00 PM GUIDE FOR REAL ESTATE AGENTS AND BROKERS WITH WEB SITES. RULE #1. Don't use Lenn's maps on your web page. RULE #2. When you are contacted by the map owner, don't ignore them. RULE #3. When you are noticed of a settlement offer of $1,000, take it. RULE #4. When you ... (99 comments)
copyright: PLAGIARISM, COPYRIGHT AND GOOGLE JUICE - 12/13/07 08:32 AM IGNORANCE OF THE COPYRIGHT LAW IS NO EXCUSE. ANYWAY, WE DON'T BUY IT. * * * * DANGER: HARD CORE COPYRIGHT TALK AHEAD * * * * THINGS LEARNED IN 7TH GRADE ENGLISH CLASSMrs. Kennedy, my 7th Grade English Teacher, was known for her tough grading, strict class discipline and heavy homework assignments. ... (67 comments)
copyright: MY FIRST ACTIVE RAIN POST WAS ABOUT - YES! COPYRIGHT - 10/13/07 08:41 AM "The more things change, the more they stay the same."Yesterday, I filed my tax return for 2006. Included as income for 2006 was $48,000 for money received for damages for copyright infringement. This has been the average amount collected for the past 4 years. In the future, statutory damages should be ... (19 comments)
copyright: JURY FINDS FOR MUSIC COMPANY IN COPYRIGHT LAWSUIT - October 5, 2007 - 10/08/07 06:07 PM THE JUST HAS SPOKEN in a landmark copyright lawsuit. Duluth, Minn. (AHN) - A Minnesota mother of two must pay $222,000 to several record publishers after a jury Thursday here found her guilty of illegally sharing 24 songs. http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008735318 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/04/business/NA-FIN-US-Downloading-Music.php Things just got a lot hotter for folks who believe that they can ... (10 comments)
copyright: COURT SAYS MLS IS A FORUM FOR REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS - 08/22/07 06:53 AM MUST READ - MLS IS for BROKERS TO SHARE INFORMATION - IT IS NOT PUBLIC INFORMATION[Decision] Filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals, Florida June 21, 2007Appeals from the United States District Courtfor the Southern District of FloridaBUC Int�l Corp. v. Int�l Yacht Council Ltd. "The vessel listings in the BUCNET database ... (32 comments)
copyright: IMAGES FOUND ON ACTIVE RAIN MEMBER'S POSTS ARE NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN - UPDATE - 08/13/07 07:10 AM UPDATE: I just returned from delivering a check for a buyer and find that the person who put my image on her blog profile and post has removed them. That's the good news. The bad news is that she wants me to send her a link where it says it is ... (41 comments)
copyright: COPYRIGHT WARNING: A SNIPPET IS NOT 100 WORDS. - 08/09/07 08:56 AM WHAT'S A SNIPPET?Recent articles with information about the latest hot topic, mortgages and will anyone every get one again,have led to some powerful reading and some very powerful writing. Unfortunately, it has also led to some,what I believe are (1) copyright violations, and (2) borderline duplicate content. When researching a topic ... (22 comments)
copyright: COPYRIGHT REVISITED, OR IS IT RECYCLED. Correcting Misinformation. - 07/14/07 01:48 PM ACTIVE RAIN MEMBERS WHO COMMENT ON COPYRIGHT SHOULD FIRST READ THE OFFICIAL COPYRIGHT OFFICE WEB SITE. Checking my Active Rain messages this morning showed a comment made just yesterday about an article I posted about COPYRIGHT on August 13, 2006. The comment was so wrong, wrong, wrong. "You make a great caase for copyrighted material. But ... (59 comments)
copyright: THE COST OF COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION - UP 50% - 07/05/07 05:48 PM GOOD GRIEF! I just got a collection of maps together to prepare Copyright registrations and find that since the last time I registered a collection of maps, which was early 2006, The cost has increased from $30 each to $45 each. Ouch. The Copyright office considered raising the cost of Copyright for ... (20 comments)
copyright: YOU CANNOT "REPRINT" ON ACTIVE RAIN. IT IS COPYRGHT INFRINGEMENT - 06/18/07 08:38 AM RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT COPYRIGHT, INFRINGEMENT, ACTIVE RAIN POSTS, ATTRIBUTION, LINKS AND SNIPPETS. It appears that a RAINER got a post deleted because 99% of the post was not written by the member. This is a gray area to many, but copyright is really simple. The creator or writer of an article is the ... (116 comments)
copyright: IF ONE GETS CAUGHT STEALING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, SOMETIMES IT'S BEST TO PAY UP QUICKLY - 06/02/07 09:09 PM WHAT MAKES FOLKS THINK THAT THEY CAN JUST "TAKE" CONTENT OR IMAGES FROM OUR WEB SITES??? NOTICE to anyone on the web who might consider taking one of my images to use on their web site - DON'T NOTICE to anyone on the web who might consider taking content from any ... (24 comments)
copyright: COPYRIGHT ENFORCEMENT REVISITED with AN INTERESTING ANGLE - 03/08/07 09:19 AM My latest adventure in copyright protection enforcement has taken a very interesting turn. A local agent recently got caught with one of my maps on her web site. This is a local agent of a national company. The agent and her broker are presenting a new problem. While my map is no longer on ... (65 comments)
copyright: JUST BECAUSE IT'S ON YAHOO OR GOOGLE DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN USE IT - 12/30/06 07:15 AM DANGER, WILL ROBINSON * DANGER, WILL ROBINSON * DANGER, WILL ROBINSON WILL FOLKS, PLEASE, PLEASE, GET THE MESSAGE - JUST BECAUSE YOU SEE SOMETHING ON YAHOO, GOOGLE OR ANY OTHER PLACE ON THE INTERNET, DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU CAN JUST TAKE IT AND USE IT. IF YOU DIDN'T CREATE IT, MAKE IT, WRITE ... (18 comments)
copyright: IMAGES, PHOTOS AND ICONS - 12/08/06 04:24 PM John Hruska complimented my Door Mat image and mistook it for "Clip Art". I don't use Clip Art because I have a massive collection of photos and graphic images. Remember the "Crab Images"?
I have had photos and graphics stored on my hard drives, CDs and numberous Floppies for years. I ... (2 comments)
copyright: A SOLDIER IN THE COPYRIGHT BATTLE - 11/12/06 03:12 PM KRISTAL, YOU JUST MADE MY DAY ! ! ! ! I just read a helpful post by Jim Lee about tracking copyright violators through Google search. One of the comments was from Kristal Kraft who posted that she is pursuing copyright violators. Thank you Kristal. It's been lonely out here. I know that ... (32 comments)
copyright: COPYRIGHT CONFUSION III and CRAB IMAGES - 11/06/06 03:53 PM Many questions from the first copyright blog has kept this string going. This should be the last. I'll try to answer them below, but remember, I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY OR COPYRIGHT EXPERT. I'm a real estate broker who has had some experience protecting my copyrights and collecting damages from folks ... (6 comments)
copyright: COPYRIGHT CONFUSION - FOLLOW UP - 11/05/06 04:19 PM <!--StartFragment -->I got some questions about my last blog about copyright. NO, you cannot copy articles and use them as long as you credit the writer (copyright owner).This is the part of the copyright law that permits publishers, critics, etc. to use a short except or snippit when giving a review ... (4 comments)
copyright: IS THERE REALLY COPYRIGHT CONFUSION? - 11/05/06 10:21 AM WHAT IS COPYRIGHT PROTECTED? There has been some blogging about copyright this week, so, although I AM NO COPYRIGHT EXPERT, I have some experience in the matter. If folks have any confusion about copyright, don't be concerned about what you don't know. Just think about what you DO know. A person may not know if a ... (22 comments)
copyright: Copyright and Real Estate Web Sites, My Experience - 08/13/06 06:36 PM Copyright has been an abiding interest since I first discovered a number of maps copyright protected by me on another agent's web site. In fact, 13 unique maps from my web page were boldly used on another agent's web page - without my knowledge or permission. What made the discovery so ... (31 comments)
Richard. I don't agree. I believe that they do know and rationalize or evade the facts. If folks can't understand or know basic intellectual property protections, they've got no business being in the real estate business or mortgage business. Copyright law is a lot more simple and basic than real estate law.
Lenn, I have been wondering about this myself so I'm glad that Karen asked the question and grateful to you for answering it. I've always been a rule follower so I'd be too chicken too steal someone else's content. LOL
Mark. Thanks. Enjoy but it will probably get fairly repetitive. The reason I write on copyright fairly often is to discourage folks on ActiveRain from using my images or other content. Even with this body of work published, I have found 5-6 members who used my maps or other images. I collected damages from two. Geez. All they had to do was look at my blog and they were warned. They didn't care.
Russ. We can't stop them. We just need to make them pay.
Lenn, I have learned much by reading your copyright postings here for the past year, I am grateful for the information and I know that I act as a more informed blogger now. (the legal fees you have paid for the information have benefitted me and many others and I thank you for that too!)
I always listen whenever you discuss your views and opinions on Copyright. I know of not one person who knows this more than you do, and is not an attorney at the same time. Thanks for sharing. I've bookmarked it and your views/ opinions are appreciated.
Lenn there are some local violators (photos) who seem to be able to get away with it time and time again. Yet at the same time they scream about the lack of professionalism among other agents in their posts. How ironic.
THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE DOESN'T PROTECT ANYTHING. Anyone who wants to steal your work will simply crop the copyright notice off and use it anyway. The copyright notice and about $3.50 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
Roflmho, that about sums it up. Now if we could just find a way to go after the splogs that steal our work and take credit for them. I comment on them, when they are picked up by Google Alerts. This is my post, you stole it from my blog. STOP
I need to get better at tracking my work with Google Alerts. Thanks again for a great copyright article. I can't believe anyone would dare to steal from you!
Lenn, I wish you'd be more direct and quit mincing words. LOL! We didn't mean to start your week out with a full moon and a question I feel you've covered 25 times before. I did miss a few and just went back and read them too...
I agree with Sheldon, folks should respect your work. I know that is a rose colored glasses approach, but, that is how I feel. Does the real world work that way? Nope, there will always be lazy plagiarist people...
It's truly a sad day when Realtors® need to be worried about copyright infringement, instead of focusing on what the public expects them to be doing (i.e. representing buyers and taking listings).
I think you have said it a million different ways -- this post is the most direct and to the point! Some people just don't care! It certainly is simply enough!
Lenn, They are relentless and WAY too lazy to write their own words. Finding my blogs/articles two times in one week credited to two different people--they did not stop and are difficult to track down. Unfortunately, the sites they are posting to don't care and don't do anything to stop them. I'm SO glad you make them PAY.
It is disappointing that for whatever reason there is the perceived "need" to go and take someone else's work and not using your own creative juice. I appreciate the notation about linking to something else with our our interpretation as an introduction.
Kelly. Many have the need for short cuts and expediency over hard work. They are opportunistic. I'm sure they are the same way in their real estate practice.
Dawn. The closest I'd ever get is to print everything and get some heavy duty staples.
Carol. I'd rather spend my time selling real estate than prosecuting copyright thieves. But, if they want to play. . . . .
Joan. I figured it was time for some "Hard Core Copyright Talk".
Martin. It is, isn't it?
Frank and Jody. As long as there are going to be copyright thieves, they might as well use one of my maps. I'll give them the pleasure of making my May or June mortgage payment for me.
Paul. You don't have to read this stuff. You know it well. Fact is, most ActiveRain members are more likely to be victims of copyright thieves.
Connie. My pleasure. Now I can get to the post about my Pre-settlement Walk Through article I had planned for today, good real estate stuff.
You are an expert on this issue... Thank you for the informative post. I am going to try to read ALL of those listed. It bothers me when people conveniently forget others have spent time on something and do not want it copied.
Penny. I can't believe it either. Especially when the thief is an ActiveRain member. All they had to do before right clicking on my map was look at my ActiveRain posts.
You'd think that folks who even consider stealing images would at least reserch the owner. Oh well.
Missy. They never respond. They figure that if they ignore you, you'll go away. I have had a few folks use my maps and I could see that they were not competitors or in the real estate industry in any way and small entities, so I just e-mailed them and asked them to remove my map. If they do, fine. If they don't, I collect damages. If the user is in or industry, real estate agent/broker/appaiser/insurance/home inspector/title, or anything else, I notice and then collect. A few, very few, one agent, one home inspector, one title person contacted me and apoligized. I didn't collect and in one case, a home inspector, let him continue to use with a link to me.
Wow. You even quoted the legendary Dirty Harry..."go ahead, make my day." Guess this means you're not "playing" when it comes to copyright Lenn. Very passionate post.
James. Isn't it the truth. We've mailed and tried to Certify Mail, but they don't accept the Certified Mail and ignore the regular mail.
That's what's known as "evading service". However, they are a corporation and so we can, now that the law suit has been filed, notice their registered agent.
I think if anyone is new here they now know you are the Queen of Copyright info. Wow....that's an unbelievable number of posts Lenn....and just on copyrighting. You certainly are inspiring!
Hi Lenn~ I guess that builder just doesn't know who he is messing with, LOL! Not too long ago I saw a entire post written in here word for word with no credit given to the original writer....I could not believe it!
A refreshing and very direct breath of fresh air. Love "write the damn thing yourself" response. There are no short cuts. Always, always, always give credit where credit is due and write your own stuff ... your clients, SOI, prospective clients and the general public deserve nothing but your hard work.
Lenn - Glad you re-posted this. Our office just had a meeting last week about getting more involved on the Internet. An agent in our office was giving the seminar, she has been involved on the Internet since December. She stood up in front of a room full of agents and said "If you don't know what to put on your website find a agent in California who's site you like and copy what they have"
Needless to say, I went a little postal, which I guess she didn't appreciate. How do I know this? She called the agents in the room witches on facebook. lol
Sandra. HA! That is so funny. That is an agent about to be sued. Who cares if an agent makes a fool of themselves on facebook. That won't get her any business.
Julie. Careful! "Credit" isn't permission.
Vickie. Careful! Even if "credit had been given, they would still have been in violation unless they had permission of the creator.
Colleen. Thanks. No one can say they weren't warned.
Mark. INDEED. That makes so much common sense, I can't understand why more folks don't follow that procedure. I surely do. I'm not much for linking out on my web sites or blogs, but when I do, it's because the info enhances my post. It makes sense.
For those who are concerned about folks taking their posts without their knowledge, I recommend Copyscape. I use it to crawl for duplicates stolen information every week and have caught several people with their hands in the cookie jar - including other Active Rain members. C'mon people - how hard is it to "write the damn thing yourself"!
I wish more people would use common sense about this. If you didn't write it then you sure shouldn't use it. Great post and you put this in perspective I think for a lot of people.
Lenn.. You are a wealth of knowledge.. especially with these copyright issues. I've read most (I think) of your prior blogs on this topic. I'm bookmarking this one for future reference.
Lenn, Thanks for the great post and all of the others that you referenced. I like your style! Way to go after those people that have stolen your stuff!
Well Lenn...that's what you get for creating amazing maps. You just need to start creating crappy maps... LOL!
I think you need to change the first page of your website. Don't take my dang maps people. Go make your own, otherwise here is my attorney's name and you can expect a call from him...
Melina. A number of folks have advised me to put specific warnings about taking my maps. I have no intention of diverting attention from what I do, sell real estate, to copyright training for unethical agents on my web page.
Besides. I don't accept the premise that they don't know. I believe that they just don't believe that they'll get caught.
Kristi. Interesting. We just got a $56,000 judgment against one agent in Baltimore County. He had an opportunity to pay $15,000 by September and ignored us.
Its funny I was just explaining to my in laws last night about Active Rain and my blogging. My mother in law said "oh all you have to do is take an article and post it to get points" and I said NO WAY. I had to explain to them about plagerism and I have to write all my own posts. I was shocked I had to explain this to them and why it is wrong. I believe that is the case for many people who are not internet or tech savy.
Lenn - great post! I am amazed at the people who would never eat a grape off the grocery shelf without paying for it are willing to steal other people's work.
Lenn - great post! I am amazed at the people who would never eat a grape off the grocery shelf without paying for it are willing to steal other people's work.
Think how bad it's going to continue to get as you have an entire generation brought up on the concept of "file sharing" (e.g. Napster, et. al.) where they really believed there was nothing wrong with downloading material from someone else. The whole idea of "intellectual property" is becoming lost with the massive proliferation of the internet. Think how bad it will get when the Chinese actually have "real" access to the internet. They have entire industries based on making copies of other countries' products and re-selling them without regard to copyright, trademarks or patents.
I did not realize about the youtube videos and not using them - I thought only if they were put on by an actual company and not an individual were they copyrighted - thanks for clearing that one up for me!!!!!!!!!!
A friend sent me an artcile that had been copied "word for word" from another friend.
Both are now "published".
I immediately advised the second fellow that an error had been made and that he obviosly failed to quote the orginal author. He simply replied "thanks". So far, no mass mailing.
This now places me in a further dilemma, because it's not fixed.
Brian. I don't understand a lot of what you wrote, "not fixed"???
If one person publishes and article, it's copyright protected. If another person takes the content and publishes it, it's copyright infringement.
Google knows which is the original post. So does the original writer.
Bill. You mean that it isn't?
George. I don't want to be misunderstood.
Emily. There is disagreement about YouTube. I may have been wrong. It appears that if you put your own video on YouTube you are giving permission for readers to downloan and post. However, the problem comes when someone downloads and publishes a video that isn't their own.
Interesting stuff Lenn. Your suggestions are helpful because sometimes people do it in ignorance - especially the music and videos, and maps. Thanks for the reminder that someone else created it and you need to ask for permission. I guess if you get tired of real estate you could coast through law school focusing on copyright law. :)
Hi Lenn -- Anyone who hits "Control-C" ought to think real hard it they aren't copying their own stuff from one application to another, it's truly that simple. The experts say that things published today on the Internet will stay for decades, even if we delete them, so I'm sure as blogging and websites become even more prolific, and the tools to catch cheaters mature, watch out!
Lenn, Do you feel like a broken record sometimes? I'm not sure why this is such a difficult topic for people to get. I do like "Write the damn thing yourself!!!" It really couldn't be much simpler.
Thanks for all the links to the wonderful things you have written -- will save those ..just the other day someone asked me about if they could snag photos off the web -- and i was looking for one of your good resources to refer them to.
Ryan. Thanks. Simple solutions from a simple minded person.
Bob. & Carolin. Of course, the simple answer to their questions is "probably not". Of course, there are places one can safely get photos to use, but the "snagger" rarely reads the fine print.
Bryant.Chuckle, chuckle. Yes, subtlety hasn't worked all that well, has it.
Chris. Good advice. There are warnings all over the place but folks ignore the warnings that images may be copyright protected. They are just not paying attention.
Lyn. In a word, YES. You should have done your own cute box of MLS data.
It's a little understood area of copyright. There is data and there is information. Raw data is not copyright protected. Information developed through the use of that data is copyright protected.
Once that person created the box with the informaton therein, it was copyright protected.
MLS output is copyright protected by the MLS. However, once that data is used to create a list or report, that is copyright protected by the person who created the list. The key word being "created".
Ann. Careful when you accuse others of infringing without knowing how they compiled or aggregated the data. I have been accused of illegal acts because I publish IDX lisitngs, which, as a broker I have a right to do. TOTOH, if someone copies and publishes the MLS listing report, well. . . . . .
I would never accuse anyone unless it was taken from me. Which brings me to another question: what if someone publishes a post on another site without the author's permission?
It took me nearly as long to scroll down to the first comment as it did to get past the comments. I finally gave up and hit Control End. Love the title; found this on Gabrielle Rhind's post. Today, you're my favorite blogger. Painter, too!
Karen Monsour requested that I respond to her post Is this (Copyright© 2009 Karen L. Monsour, All Rights Reserved.) necessary at the end of my AR blog?
Posted by 
Lenn,
Sounds simple enough but I'm always amazed at the number of people, including here on Active Rain, that don't think it applies to them.
Without enforcement though, copyright laws are toothless.
Rich