As part of the charter issued to BRR by the National Association of REALTORS®, BRR is required to enforce NAR’s trademark rules surrounding the use of the term “REALTOR®” (a registered trademark owned by NAR) by our members and within our jurisdiction.
Below is information about what’s allowed and what is not regarding the trademark rules:
GENERAL USAGE
Only those real estate licensees who are members of NAR may refer to themselves as “REALTORS®.” While members are not required to use the REALTOR® term in their marketing, they are encouraged to do so.
REALTOR® members of NAR may refer to themselves as such in their marketing, in connection with their name or brokerage (but not team names, or with adjectives or other descriptors) using all capital letters and the ® trademark symbol, as well as separating punctuation where noted:
| Proper Usage |
| Jim Smith, REALTOR®
REALTOR® Jim Smith Uptown Realty, Inc., REALTORS® Smith & Associates, REALTORS® Sunshine Homes, REALTORS® Johnson Realty, REALTORS® AAA Team with Johnson Realty, REALTORS® Jones, Inc., REALTORS® |
| Improper Usage |
| Jim the realtor
Uptown REALTORS®, Inc. Smith REALTORS®, Ltd. Sunshine REALTORS Homes Johnson Realty REALTORS® AAA Realtor Team Jones, Inc., REALTORS®/Builders Boise’s Best Realtor |
A frequently asked question by agents who have incorrectly used “REALTOR®” in connection with a location or other adjective, is why the BRR and Idaho REALTORS® (IR) names are allowed. It’s due to an exception that NAR has for associations; however, that does not extend to members.
INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE
The rules governing the use of the REALTOR® marks are the same regardless of the medium in which the marks are being used, i.e., print advertising, web advertising, URLs, email addresses, usernames, and more.
NAR provides some flexibility to use adjectives or descriptors in connection with your name on social media and with websites and email addresses (including .realtor domains; visit get.realtor for details).
While you can use adjectives and locations as part of a username or email address, the descriptor may not modify the term REALTOR®. For example, if you wanted to include a city or state in your marketing, you could say “Idaho_Jane_REALTOR” as Idaho is describing Jane. However, “Idaho_REALTOR_Jane” would not be appropriate as Idaho is now describing REALTOR®:
| Proper Usage |
| @realtorjimsmith
realtorjimsmith.com realtorjimsmith@email.com
@jimsmithrealtor jimsmithrealtor.com jimsmitrealtor@email.com jimsmith.realtor jim@jimsmith.realtor
@boisejimsmithrealtor boisejimsmithrealtor.com Realtorjiminboise@email.com boisejimsmith.realtor jim@boisejimsmith.realtor
@townhomejimrealtor townhomejim.realtor jim@townhomejim.realtor |
| Improper Usage |
| @jimtherealtor
jimtherealtor.com jimtherealtor@email.com
@uptownrealtors uptownrealtors.com uptownrealtors@email.com
@aaarealtorteam
@boiserealtorjimsmith boiserealtorjimsmith.com boiserealtorjimsmith@email.com Jimboise.realtor
@boisebestrealtor
@yourtownhomerealtor yourtownhomerealtor.com jim@yourtownhomerealtor.com |
You are required to use REALTOR® in all capital letters with the registration symbol and separating punctuation, such as a comma, whenever it is possible to do so. However, NAR is aware that social media handles, emails, domain names, and the like do not support this, which is why the examples above are acceptable.
In addition to using the term REALTOR® online, a member may use the REALTOR® Logo as an icon for an app or a social media profile if the app or profile is provided in connection with the member’s real estate business and the REALTOR® Logo appears adjacent to the member’s name or firm name. Acronyms and abbreviations are not permitted.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
More information about NAR’s trademark rules is available at nar.realtor/logos-and-trademarkrules, including the requirement to use the term in all caps and with the registered “R” symbol. Additional information about using it on social media is at nar.realtor/logos-and-trademarkrules/trademark-use-on-social-media, for instances where the registered “R” symbol is unavailable. We also have this information in a printable guide.
LOCATING THE TRADEMARK SYMBOL ON YOUR DEVICES:
To get the trademark ® symbol on your computer, use Alt+0174 on PCs, Option+R on Macs, or type “(r)” and hit Enter.
To get the trademark ® symbol on iPhones, click the smiley face to open your emoji keyboard, scroll to the right until you get to “symbols’” and locate the ®. Once you use it a few times, it will show up under your recently used emojis.
To get the trademark ® symbol on Androids, click the “?123” button, then press the “~(“ button to get to the second symbols page. Locate the ® symbol and click it to insert it into your text message. Touch the “ABC” button to return to your normal keyboard.
MISUSE OF THE TRADEMARK
Often the misuse of the trademark is unintentional; nevertheless, it must be corrected in all instances, including but not limited to advertisements, websites/URLs, email addresses, social media profiles, business cards, signs, etc., as soon as possible — expenses we’d much rather see members avoid. This is why BRR shares this information with new members and sends an annual reminder (this email) to all members. We ask that you review it when considering changes to branding and before new materials are created.
If you have any questions about this, please contact BRR’s Director of Communications, Pete Clark, at pete@boirealtors.com. You can also reach out to us to request a review of your branding, marketing, communications, etc., to ensure the trademark is being used properly.
And if your marketing materials are currently misusing the trademark, we thank you in advance for getting them corrected as quickly as possible.
Thank you for your assistance in protecting the REALTOR® brand in our market!
