MLS Domains Association
 | |
| Type: | Non-Profit-Association |
| Industry: | Registry and
Real Estate Multiple Listing Service |
| Founded: | 2010 |
| Headquarters: | Minneapolis, MN |
| Country: | USA |
| Website: | www.mlsdomains.org |
| Blog: | MLS Blog |
| Facebook: | MLS Domains Association |
| Key People | |
| Merri Jo Cowen, President Brian Larson, Secretary | |
MLS Domains Association is a non-profit association engaged in providing real estate multiple listing services, which originally announced intentions to apply for the .mls generic top level domain name (gTLD) with ICANN's New gTLD Program.[1] The association ended up applying for the .mls TLD through a partnership, and thus did not submit an application under its own name.
Background
MLS stands for Multiple Listing Service, a database of available properties for sale developed by real estate agents. [2] The association selected CentralNic to provide back-end registry solutions for .mls domain name space. Bob Bemis, then President of MLS Domains Association estimated that the number of .mls domains names that will registered will not exceed between 2 to 3,000. [3] The MLS Domains Association is composed of more than 40 Multiple Listing Service associations across the United States. Its membership list is available here
.mls TLD Application
It was announced that MLS Domains Association would not be applying for it on its own, but instead partnering with The Canadian Real Estate Association. The Association had chosen Verisign for its registry services. MLS Domains Association would provide financial support for CREA’s application, cooperate in the protection of CREA’s trademarks in “Multiple Listing Service” and “MLS” within Canada and the United States, and obtain the exclusive rights for it and its members to use .MLS domains for marketing real estate in the United States. MLS Domains Association President said "“When we learned early this year of CREA’s plans to apply for .MLS, we immediately began negotiations with it to join our efforts, recognizing that we have shared interests and that we would be stronger working together. The CREA leadership agreed and negotiated reasonable terms for our cooperation.”
Limitations imposed by the new agreement include limiting the sale of domains to MDA member and MLSs that contain real estate information about the geographical areas served by those MLSs. Other provisions are intended to protect CREA’s trademarks in “Multiple Listing Service” and “MLS” in Canada.[4]