What is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)?

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides a “Safe Harbor” to online service providers that shields them from copyright liability for the display of infringing content loaded by another brokerage.

An example would be the display on your IDX site of an infringing photo loaded by another office. Lawsuits surrounding the use and ownership of listing photos is not an uncommon trend.

Unless you’re certain every listing photo displayed on your website (regardless of the listing ownership) has the proper rights for use, you could potentially be at risk for a similar lawsuit.

The DMCA protects customers affected by the use of an image with copyright issues, but it does not protect the person who originated the infringed photo.

A copy of the SmartMLS DMCA Notice can be found below.

Copyright Claims - Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) Notice

SmartMLS, Inc. respects the intellectual property of others and has established the following procedure for receiving notice of infringement in compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). 

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS PROVIDED SOLELY FOR NOTIFYING THE SERVICE PROVIDERS REFERENCED BELOW THAT YOUR COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL MAY HAVE BEEN INFRINGED. 

Pursuant to Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(2), all notifications of claimed copyright infringement on the SmartMLS, Inc. system or Site should be sent ONLY to our Designated Agent. Written notification must be submitted to the following designated Agent via letter or email: 

Service Provider: 

SmartMLS, Inc. 

Name of Agent Designated to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement: 

Attn: Francisco Garcia, Chief Information Officer 

Address to Which Notification Should be Sent: 

55 Old Gate Lane, Milford, CT 06460 

Email of Designated Agent: 

Francisco@SmartMLS.com 

Telephone Number of Designated Agent: 

(203)750-6000 extension 2203 

Facsimile Number of Designated Agent: 

(203)750-6001 

Under Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(3)(A), the Notification of Claimed Infringement must include the following: 

  • An electronic or physical signature of the owner or the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest; 
  • Identification of the copyrighted work (or works) that you claim has been infringed; 
  • A description of the material that you claim is infringing, and the location, where the original or an authorization copy of the copyrighted work exists (for example, the URL of the page of the website where it is lawfully posted; the name, edition and pages of a book from which an excerpt was copied, etc.) 
  • A clear description of where the infringing material is located on our website, including as applicable its URL, so that we can locate the material 
  • Your address, telephone number and e-mail address 
  • A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyrighted owner, its agent, or the law; and 
  • A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.