PlanOmatic Will Assign Property Photo Ownership to Its Real Estate Broker Clients
Denver, Colorado (PRWEB) February 22, 2017 -- PlanOmatic, one of the largest national property marketing service providers in the real estate and property management industries, has announced it will assign ownership and copyright of property listing photography obtained through its services to the real estate brokers who own the listings.
Ownership of listing photos previously had been retained by PlanOmatic, which is standard in creative services agreements. But a recent court ruling in a case between VHT (another provider of listing photos and property marketing services) and Zillow brought to light the issue of ownership and it became clear to PlanOmatic that these assets should ultimately be owned by the listing broker. In the ruling of VHT, Inc. vs. Zillow Group, Inc.(1) , a jury awarded VHT $8.2 million in damages in its claim that Zillow was using its property photos on Zillow Digs without permission.
"We believe in lasting relationships with our broker clients and siding with them on this contentious issue is a big step toward maintaining those relationships," said Aaron Rose, PlanOmatic Executive Vice President of Sales.
Giving the listing broker full control over photography assets created for each property gives them the security of ownership and flexibility to use these assets how they see fit. As part of this decision, PlanOmatic will be giving the broker the option of placing their copyright mark on their photos.
“The court ruling involving one of our competitors caused us to question our own standard practices and whether our company retaining ownership of photos was in our clients’ best interest,” said Kori Covrigaru, PlanOmatic CEO. “After long and careful consideration, the answer was no.”
“Our new policy aligns with our core company values that center around relationships and best-in-class service,” Covrigaru said.
Brokers interested in obtaining copyright of their listing photos should contact PlanOmatic for details.
PlanOmatic has been photographing real estate listings since 2005. The company’s products and services include photography, interactive floor plans, virtual staging, aerial photography and 3D walkthroughs - all powered by an automated ordering process and unmatched customer service.
For more details about PlanOmatic’s products, services and team, visit http://www.planomatic.com.
1 (Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-zillow-vht-photo-lawsuit-0214-biz-20170213-story.html.)
About PlanOmatic:
PlanOmatic provides the real estate sales and rental industries with property marketing services, including captivating photography, interactive floor plans, virtual staging, aerial photography and 3D walkthroughs. With unmatched customer service, a network of 140 photographers in 35 states, and an automated ordering process, PlanOmatic is positioned to be every property management company or brokerage office’s marketing solution for every listing.
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Denver, PlanOmatic serviced more than 48,000 properties nationwide in the past year alone. In 2014 and 2015, the company was named to the Inc. 5000 list as one of America’s fastest growing companies.
Shea Stone, PlanOmatic, http://www.planomatic.com, +1 720-414-2778, [email protected]
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