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Trademark Reference Guide
Every time you tell the public you are a REALTOR®, you tell them you subscribe to a strict Code of Ethics, you are a member of the largest trade association in the United States, and you are informed about issues that affect real estate business. That's a lot of mileage from one trademark! So, it's important to always use the REALTOR® marks and logo correctly to identify yourself as a member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.
The National Association has developed guidelines on the proper use of the REALTOR® marks and logo. This guide summarizes five limitations on the use of the marks. Further information may be found at NAR's web site under "Graphic Standards and Style Guidelines."
- The terms REALTOR® and REALTORS® should appear in all capital letters and the federal registration symbol (®) should be used with each term whenever possible.
- For example: John Jones, REALTOR®. When not possible, REALTOR (in all capital letters without the registration symbol) or Realtor® (upper and lower case with the registration symbol) are permitted but less preferred alternatives.
- Use the terms REALTOR® or REALTORS® in connection with, rather than as part of, your firm name.
- CORRECT: John Doe, Inc., REALTOR®
- INCORRECT: John Doe, REALTORS®, Inc.
- Say REAL - tor as a two-syllable term with emphasis on the first syllable "REAL", nor REAL - i - ter or REAL - a - ter.
- Use non-member, instead of non-REALTOR®, when referring to one who is not a member of the National Association of REALTORS®.
- When speaking of more than one member, use REALTORS®.
- Avoid possessives whenever possible and when not, use REALTOR®'s (singular possessive) or REALTORS®' (plural possessive).
- Don't hyphenate (REAL - TOR); abbreviate (Rltr.); expand (Realtorific); or combine the term REALTOR® or the registered mark REALTORS® with other terms (REALTOR®-ASSISTANT).
- Don't use descriptive words to modify the term: e.g. "Professional REALTORS®"; "Florida's Biggest REALTOR®"; "Twin City REALTORS®."
- Punctuation should be used to separate your name or firm name from the terms even when they appear on separate lines.
- For example:
John Jones --
REALTOR®
The REALTOR® logo has been designed specifically to take advantage of certain size and contrast relationships among its component parts. Official glossy reproduction proof sheets are available for your use from the Trademark Coordinator at the National Association, or more conveniently, on-line under "Graphic Standards and Style Guidelines" at http://www.realtor.org. Designers and printers can easily access and download logos from this site for business cards, stationery, etc.
- Always display the logo in its correct form. The proper dimensions of the logo are represented by superimposing the logo on a grid (15” width x 19” height).
- Use a sharply-contrasting single color for the logo unless you're using REALTOR® Gold (Pantone 871) for the "R" and REALTOR® Blue (Pantone 293) for the block and term REALTOR®. These are the "official" colors for the logo. When printing the logo in one color, PMS 293 blue or black is strongly encouraged.
- When used on a dark background, be sure to reverse all components of the logo.
- When the logo appears alone on a window decal, etc. without other wording, allow margins.
- Allow blank space of at least one half the width of the block "R" logo (no text may be nearer than this) when using the logo on letterhead, signs, etc.
- Use a logo that is large enough so that all the parts -- the block "R," the term REALTOR®, and the symbol "´" -- can be seen.
- The REALTOR® logo must never be distorted or altered.
- Don't eliminate parts such as the term REALTOR®.
- Don't outline or frame the logo or parts of the logo.
- Don't combine with other symbols or words.
- Don't redraw, change the size or letter type of portions of the logo.
Members are licensed to use the marks and logo in connection with their real estate business. Members are not authorized to use the marks and logo in connection with any other activities. A non-member is never authorized to use the REALTOR® marks or logo in connection with his or her name.
Use on the Internet
When surfing the Web for real estate homepages, it's quite common to come across sites belonging to REALTORS®. If you are looking to add your own electronic presence on the Internet, it is easy to get caught up in designing your own web page and choosing a domain name which will capture the attention of surfers and make you easily identifiable. REALTORS® often want to use the REALTOR® marks as part of their domain name or address to distinguish themselves, but they must keep in mind that there are rules governing proper use of the REALTOR® marks that must be adhered to at all times regardless of the media used. These rules are found in the National Association's Membership Marks Manual, a reference manual explaining proper use of the REALTOR® marks including examples of correct and incorrect uses. Here is a brief list of the principle rules affecting use of the REALTOR® marks in domain names:
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The term REALTOR®, whether used as part of a domain name or in some other fashion must refer to a member or a member's firm.
- The term REALTOR® may not be used with descriptive words or phrases. For example, Number1realtor.com, numberone-realtor.com, chicagorealtors.org or realtorproperties.com are all incorrect.
- For use as a domain name or e-mail address on the Internet the term REALTOR® does not need to be separated from the member's name or firm name with punctuation. For example, both johndoe-realtor.com and johndoerealtor.com would be correct uses of the term as a part of domain names and jdoe*realtors@webnetservices.com and jdoerealtors@webnetservices.com are both correct uses of the term as part of an e-mail address.
- The REALTOR® block R logo should not be used as hypertext links at a web site as such uses can suggest an endorsement or recommendation of the linked site by your Association. The only exception would be to establish a link to the National Association's web site, Realtor.com.
The public has adopted the use of all lower case letters when writing domain names, even those containing trademarks. Therefore, for purposes of domain names and internet addresses only, there is an exception to the rule on capitalization of the term REALTOR® and it may appear in lower case letters.
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