The American division of the famed Swiss watch company Rolex claims that data technology firm RealPlus is infringing on its trademark by using the name R.O.L.E.X. for its residential property listing system, a new lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan says.

The R.O.L.E.X. technology, an abbreviation of RealPlus Online Listings Exchange, is used by the Real Estate Board of New York as the backbone of its multiple listing service known as NY1Residential.

Midtown-based Rolex Watch U.S.A. claims RealPlus and its managing director Eric Gordon are infringing on the timepiece maker’s trademark, the suit, filed Tuesday, says.

“[RealPlus] use of this confusing and identical mark is likely to bring to mind [Rolex's] famous Rolex trademark… and dilute the distinctiveness of the Rolex trademark,” the complaint says. … [more]

The Real Estate Board of New York’s choice of developer for its nascent property listings transmission system, Stratus Data Systems, is relying on proprietary information from the existing R.O.L.E.X. system to build the new technology, according to the creator of the current technology, whose proposal for a new system was rejected.

Eric Gordon, managing director of RealPlus and creator of the real estate listings platform R.O.L.E.X., said REBNY had asked him to hand over the proprietary information as Stratus begins implementing the replacement platform.

“They weren’t going to reinvent the wheel,” Gordon said of Stratus. “They were expecting to use our wheel so it wouldn’t cost them anything to build that wheel.” … [more]

RealPlus, developer of real estate listings platform R.O.L.E.X., is planning to launch an enhanced version of the system, offering greater control in how firms co-broke and exchange listings, the company announced today.

The R.O.L.E.X. system will be available to all Real Estate Board of New York members as an optional, fee-based service.RealPlus handles as many as 10,000 transactions per day, it said, and supports over 500 firms, all members of the REBNY Listings Service.

Features of the new program, RealPlus said, include the option to feed listings to the New York State Multiple Listings Service, supply listings to national property site Realtor.com automatically and it offers a quicker means of co-brokering listings. — Katherine Clarke… [more]

From left: Dottie Herman of Elliman, Frederick Peters of Warburg, and Matt Daimler of Buyfolio.com

While it’s true that most brokers can’t read minds, with a VOW they can come pretty close.

Real estate pros say that VOWs, also known as “Virtual Office Web sites,” can give agents a backstage pass to their clients’ predilections. VOWs allow buyers to view an agent’s listings — and those belonging to other brokerages — all on the same Web page.

But VOWs present serious invasion of privacy issues and as a result can be a real turn-off to homebuyers, critics say.

VOWs can track your buying behaviors. For example, if a buyer tells a broker that she has a budget of $1.2 million, but the broker sees the buyer checking out $1.5 million listings on the company’s VOW, the broker could potentially push the buyer to make a larger purchase than she had talked about…. [more]

Matt Daimler, a technology wiz with little background in real estate, thinks he can solve some of the most vexing problems in New York City residential sales today.

His new site, Buyfolio.com, which launched Tuesday, allows buyers and brokers to communicate through a single Web page. After seeing listings on sites like Streeteasy.com and the NYTimes.com — or even brokerage sites like Corcoran.com and PrudentialElliman.com — users can save the listing to their personalized Buyfolio.com page and evaluate, compare, and organize them.

Both brokers and clients are welcome to launch pages — for free, for now — and no registration is required. When a listing changes in price or status, or it will be having an open house, the user is notified via e-mail, something Daimler said could eliminate the need to incessantly check listings on their home sites. Also, a broker can use the site to monitor his or her clients. Although the site is exclusively for residential sales in the five boroughs right now, Daimler said he’d be open to other listings, like commercial properties, in the future. … [more]