MRED Wins: A Major Victory for Cooperation and the Consumer

LISLE, Ill., Sept. 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The court’s preliminary injunction ruling in favor of MRED marks an important victory not only for MRED, but also for MLSs, brokers, and the cooperative marketplace nationwide. 

MRED stood its ground to protect a fundamental MLS principle: brokerages receiving other brokerages’ listing data may use it for their consumer sites, provided they follow the relevant licensing requirements and display all listings approved for distribution. 

MRED did this by defending Objective Criteria, a principle established through the Department of Justice and recently reaffirmed by the National Association of REALTORS®. Brokers and consumers may filter listings by price, property type, location, bedrooms, amenities, and other objective characteristics. They cannot exclude a competitor’s listings simply because they disagree with the lawful way those properties were marketed. 

What a brokerage cannot do is selectively remove legitimate listings using subjective criteria. What if a brokerage excluded only the listings of a competitor it was battling for market share? What if it refused to display listings without floor plans? How about a brokerage that eliminated listings it considered competitive with its own? These are subjective business decisions, not neutral search criteria, and they are prohibited by most, if not all, MLS data licensing agreements. That is why MLSs serve as referees of the cooperative marketplace. Someone must ensure competitors follow the same rules and prevent powerful companies from deciding what the rules are for everyone else. 

MRED was willing to take that stand even when challenged by a large, publicly traded company. The ruling reinforces the ability of MLSs to consistently enforce their rules and data licensing agreements. 

This is a victory for fairness, transparency and broker cooperation - principles MRED will continue defending every day.

Jeremy Sharp
Midwest Real Estate Data LLC
630-799-1402
jeremy.sharp@mredllc.com