REDPLAN is a non-profit organization of brokers, technology companies, associations of REALTORS® and MLSs who have joined together to protect the copyrighted materials and intellectual property rights of our industry. The organization supports the pursuit of data pirates, scrapers, and other participants of the black market of real estate data.
Victor Lund of WAV Group joined the REDPLAN board last year. “REDPLAN is focused on the most important issue in real estate today, protecting the industry’s data,” says Lund. “There are some MLS and brokerage organizations who are very hygienic with their data protections, but most are not. REDPLAN aims to create best practices, find nefarious data mining operations, and support litigation efforts.” According to Lund, “Every MLS and broker should be engaged in this effort.”
REDPLAN was founded by a number of likeminded individuals who are bound by the same dedication to protect our industry’s data. The pioneers include many outstanding leaders, especially Gregg Larson of Clareity Consulting and Darity Wesley of Lotus Law Center. The board also includes John Mosey of NorthstarMLS, John Leonardi of BNAR, Martin Scrocchi of Instanet, Merri Jo Cowen of MFRMLS, Ira Luntz of Real Estate Digital, Claude Szyfer of Stroock, and Chris Galler of Minnesota AOR, and Victor Lund of WAV Group.
The group has made some outstanding contributions to the industry in the few short years of its existence, including the development of a data license agreement template, the creation of a legal defense fund, the development of a forms repository, among others.
The Council of MLS (CMLS) has long recognized the value of REDPLAN in the industry, and has supported REDPLAN with numerous opportunities to communicate to the CMLS membership about the issues and best practices of managing the intellectual property of the industry. In an announcement made today, CMLS will be formally partnering with REDPLAN to continue to explore ways to work more closely together to embrace this ambitious agenda. The first step was made at the last REDPLAN Board of Directors meeting where Denee Evans, CEO of CMLS, was welcomed onto the board.
“The synergies and efficiencies of cooperation will benefit both organizations,” said Gregg Larson, Chairman of the REDPLAN Board. CMLS serves to advance the MLS industry in North America through unified leadership, collaboration, and education across the real estate industry. CMLS members include MLS providers with over 1 million subscribers.
