Our policy
American Homes Online, LLC respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects users of our Services to do the same. We respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512.
Much of the listing content on our Services — including photographs, floor plans and property descriptions — is supplied by multiple listing services, brokerages and property owners who represent that they hold the necessary rights. If you believe content on our Services infringes your copyright, the procedure below is how to have it removed.
How to submit a takedown notice
To be effective under the DMCA, your written notice must include substantially all of the following. Incomplete notices delay removal, so please include every item.
- A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on the owner's behalf.
- Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed. If multiple works are covered by a single notice, a representative list of those works.
- Identification of the material claimed to be infringing, with information reasonably sufficient to let us locate it — for property content, please provide the full URL and the listing ID.
- Information reasonably sufficient to let us contact you: your name, mailing address, telephone number and email address.
- A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
- A statement that the information in the notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the owner's behalf.
Designated Copyright Agent
Send notices to our designated agent:
- Email — dmca@americanhomesonline.net (fastest; please use subject line “DMCA Notice”)
- Mail — DMCA Designated Agent, American Homes Online, LLC, 100 Congress Avenue, Suite 2000, Austin, TX 78701
- Phone — (888) 555-0199
Please note: under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing may be liable for damages, including costs and attorneys' fees. If you are unsure whether the use you are complaining about is actually infringing — for example, whether it may be fair use — consult an attorney before submitting a notice.
What we do when we receive a notice
On receipt of a compliant notice we will act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the identified material. We will also make a reasonable effort to notify the party who posted it, providing them a copy of the notice, and we will inform them of their right to submit a counter notification.
Where the material came from an MLS or brokerage feed, we will additionally notify the originating data source so the content can be corrected at the point of origin.
Counter notification
If you believe your material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification, you may submit a written counter notification to our designated agent containing substantially all of the following:
- Your physical or electronic signature.
- Identification of the material that was removed or disabled and the location at which it appeared before removal.
- A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.
- Your name, mailing address and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located — or, if your address is outside the United States, for any judicial district in which we may be found — and that you will accept service of process from the person who submitted the original notice or an agent of that person.
If we receive a valid counter notification we will forward it to the original complaining party. Unless that party notifies us within 10 business days that they have filed an action seeking a court order to restrain the allegedly infringing activity, we may restore the removed material in 10 to 14 business days after receiving the counter notification.
Send counter notifications to dmca@americanhomesonline.net or to the postal address above.
Repeat infringer policy
It is our policy, in appropriate circumstances, to disable or terminate the accounts and access of users, agents and brokerages that are repeat infringers.
- A first substantiated notice results in removal of the material and a written warning to the submitting party.
- A second substantiated notice within 12 months results in suspension of publishing privileges pending compliance review.
- A third substantiated notice within 12 months results in termination from our partner network, and we notify the originating MLS.
We consider the full circumstances before acting, including whether notices appear to be submitted in bad faith or as a competitive tactic.
Trademark and other complaints
The DMCA applies only to copyright. For trademark concerns, defamation claims, privacy complaints about a photograph of your property, or requests to remove interior images of a home you own, write to legal@americanhomesonline.net describing the issue and the specific URL. We review these requests individually.
Homeowners who wish to have photographs of their property removed from a public listing should generally start with the listing brokerage, which controls the content in the MLS feed. We will remove images from our display on request from a verified owner, but the images may continue to appear elsewhere until the source record is updated.