CREA and NAR Enter into Exclusive Partnership Agreement

OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has entered into an exclusive partnership agreement with the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) that will result in CREA members being able to operate websites using the .REALTOR Top Level Domain (TLD).
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that controls the creation and distribution of domain names globally, has approved a procedure for establishing a new set of TLDs. If the NAR application is successful, CREA’s partnership arrangement will provide CREA members an alternative to the familiar .ca and .com. Only licensed real estate professionals who are members of CREA and subscribe to a strict Code of Ethics have the right to call themselves a REALTOR in Canada, and only REALTORS will be allowed to use the new .REALTOR TLD. Additionally, in order to protect its MLS trademark, CREA has applied for the .MLS Top Level Domain.
ICANN is expected to make a decision on the application sometime in 2013.