The Federal Court of Canada has issued an order against the operators of Mongohouse.com for unauthorized access and use of the Toronto Real Estate Board’s (TREB) MLS data, including granting a permanent injunction.
TREB says the court has affirmed TREB’s right to protect its proprietary and copyright information and stop any unlawful attempts to sell or monetize TREB MLS data.
“TREB members have invested significantly over many years to develop the TREB MLS system. Putting an end to unauthorized uses protects the integrity of the MLS and is ultimately good for the home buying and selling public,” says TREB president Gurcharan (Garry) Bhaura.
TREB says it has been working with members “to ensure that home buyers and sellers have access to important real estate data on their brokers’ password-protected VOWs (virtual office websites), without compromising consumers’ privacy rights and/or private information.”
“The operators of Mongohouse.com have acknowledged that they were not authorized to access the TREB MLS system and that their actions were wrong in doing so. They have co-operated with TREB to thwart further such abuses of the TREB MLS system and its contents,” says TREB CEO John DiMichele.
The board says it “will continue to develop and offer innovative new services to support Realtors as they grow their businesses online.”
