Ontario Court Sanctions Real Estate Broker for Disseminating Data
The Ontario Superior Court has ruled that a real estate broker, Fraser Beach (Broker), breached the authorised user agreement (Agreement) for the Toronto Real Estate Board’s (TREB) multiple listing service web site by downloading hundreds of thousands of real estate listings in order to create a database on his own site, from which the information was made available to the public. The Agreement granted a license to a registered broker to use the data, including sensitive pricing information, for “exclusive and internal” uses.
The Broker argued that his web site was “pro-competitive”, and advanced the state of information technology in the field of real estate listings. However, in a comprehensive 34-page judgment, the Court ruled that it was TREB’s decision how to present its listings to the public, and that the development of more advanced technology by the Broker did not give him the right to breach the Agreement.
In addition, the Court found that by copying the data to his own site, the Broker had created a derivative work without permission, which was also a breach of the Agreement. In response to the Broker’s actions, TREB terminated access to the TREB web site and associated services. The Court ruled that TREB was justified in terminating the Agreement without notice, given the seriousness of the breach.
On consent of the parties, the Court specifically declined to rule whether the contractual restrictions placed on the listings data were anti-competitive. The Canadian Competition Bureau is actively investigating the Canadian Real Estate Association, its member boards and their practices, including access to the well-known multiple listing service, for alleged anticompetitive behaviour.
For the full reasons for judgment of Justice Brown in Beach v Toronto Real Estate Board 2009 Can LII 68183 (ON SC), visit:
News articles on the topic can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/yjupeub; and
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=2175020
Summary by: James Kosa
