Bipartisan Lawmakers Urge Delay of MLS Copyright Fee Increase
Issue Date: October 02, 2026
On September 21, the Bipartisan Congressional Real Estate Caucus sent a letter urging the U.S. Copyright Office to reconsider or delay a proposed increase in the fee used by multiple listing services (MLSs) to register updates to their databases. The proposal would raise the registration fee from $500 to $700 per filing, only six years after fees increased from $85 to $500. The letter was led by Representatives Mark Alford (R-Mo.) and Lou Correa (D-Calif.). Congress has until November 12 to approve or disapprove of the fee schedule.
NAR worked with the bipartisan group of lawmakers to raise concerns about the proposed fee increase. The letter asks the Copyright Office to explain why MLSs are being charged more than the agency's reported cost of providing the service, why MLSs remain limited to an outdated paper-based registration process while most applicants can file electronically, and its rationale for refusing to revisit the increase. The lawmakers also requested a timeline for electronic MLS registration and asked the Office to respond within 14 days.
Copyright registration and the protection it provides is critical. It allows MLSs to enforce their rights in federal court and seek statutory damages and attorneys' fees when listing content or database compilations are copied, scraped, or misused without permission. NAR's analysis shows that MLS registrations have declined as fees have increased, raising concerns that additional fee hikes could further reduce registrations and weaken access to these important legal protections.
The congressional letter follows NAR's meeting with Copyright Office staff and the submission of written comments to the Office objecting to the proposed fee increase. In this meeting, NAR raised the growing challenges posed by AI-powered scraping and unauthorized use of real estate content. NAR reiterated concerns laid out in written comments regarding the fee increase, the agency's cost methodology, and the lack of an electronic filing option for MLSs, but those discussions yielded neither clarity nor progress toward a compromise.
Now key members of Congress are writing to the Office and raising NAR’s concerns ahead of the November-12 congressional fee review deadline. The lawmakers also encouraged the Office to work with MLS stakeholders on reforms that lower costs, expand electronic access, and preserve strong copyright protections without another disproportionate fee increase.
NAR will continue working with lawmakers, the MLS community, and other stakeholders to support a modern registration process and reasonable fees that encourage, rather than discourage, copyright registration.