That term is trademarked by NAR. You can legally not add to your business name or domain without their approval. NAR keeps very strict control over this.
Here is a little history:
By way of background, the terms REALTOR® and REALTORS® were coined by a member of the National Association in 1915 to identify members of his local association and adopted by the National Association to apply nationally in 1916. Following the passage of the Lanham Act in 1946, which made it possible for the first time to register membership marks as a type of trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO"), the National Association filed applications for the registration of both REALTOR® and REALTORS® as collective membership marks. These applications were approved in 1950 and 1949 respectively, and have been included on the principal register of the Act of 1946 since that time. The National Association now owns a family of REALTOR® marks including, but not limited to, the REALTOR®, REALTORS®, REALTOR ASSOCIATE®, and REALTOR with Block "R" logo® marks. Below are the official numbers that the USPTO assigned to the registrations:
| REALTOR® |
Reg. No. 519,789 |
| REALTORS® |
Reg. No. 515,200 |
| REALTOR ASSOCIATE® |
Reg. No. 1,323,913 |
| REALTOR with Block "R" Logo® |
Reg. No. 1,137,081 |
The REALTOR® marks are widely recognized in the real estate field as identifying members of the National Association. The National Association and its constituent state and local associations (approximately 1500 in the United States) use the marks to identify products and services provided by the various levels (local, state and national) of the REALTOR® organization. Also the National Association licenses to its 890,000 members the right to use the REALTOR® marks for identifying themselves and their real estate businesses as members of the National Association. Members of the National Association and the public associate the REALTOR® marks with participation in the REALTOR® organization. Non-members are not allowed to use the REALTOR® marks. Use of the marks by non-members is viewed as an infringement of the National Association's legal rights in the REALTOR® marks under the federal Lanham Act in addition to various other federal and state laws.
If you want to use REALTOR in your business name or domain name, you will need their approval. You might use an alternate term that they don't control like real estate salesperson, broker, real estate agent, etc..
Have a great day!
Cathryn Jones
Assistants4Agents |
