Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › RANT – real estate broker Laura Miller, Catalyst Commercial Partners
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May 26, 2010 at 8:58 pm #670341
christopherboffoliParticipantI actually also contacted Catalyst owner Robert Regan this morning via e-mail. He responded almost immediately saying that he’d look into it. And then I received a follow-up e-mail this afternoon which essentially said that Ms. Miller’s use of the watermarked Getty image was “unintentional.”
That’s pretty much what she said when she used my image too. I replied that when one uploads an image to a third party site and asserts that they have permission to use the image, the act can no longer be construed as unintentional. Mr. Regan claimed that the image was royalty-free (which doesn’t mean the image can be downloaded and used for free, only that if you pay the licensing you can use it in perpetuity without further royalties) but that Ms. Miller’s assistant was in the process of paying Getty for the use of the image.
Oh but here’s the kicker: Mr. Regan told me that Ms. Miller played him “vulgar” voicemails that I left her last year (that she saved) and that those voicemails were very disturbing to her and should I do that again they would be contacting the police!
The interesting thing is that I don’t recall ever leaving Ms. Miller ANY voicemails. In order for there to have been a paper trail I attempted to contact her via e-mails and then by letter. If I had followed up the letter by phone before going to court I certainly would have been professional and would NEVER have left her a voicemail that could be construed as “vulgar.”
I doubt Mr. Regan would lie about this but I’m really curious as to these voicemails they claim to have. This story was spread around quite a bit last year. So I suppose anyone could have called her and said they were me. But it would be really disturbing if this were just something she cooked up to deflect responsibility.
I provided Mr. Regan with my mobile number and encouraged him to call me at his convenience if he’d like to hear my voice and discuss it further.
Craziness.
May 26, 2010 at 9:07 pm #670342
KBearParticipantWow. I wonder if any of Laura Miller’s clients are reading this.
May 26, 2010 at 9:19 pm #670343
CarsonParticipantIf I had to guess Ms Miller has other issues regarding whats right and wrong in business. She probably sells a ton of property, why else would you (if you were her boss) ever want to risk your business? If you ask her how she sleeps at night, I am sure its on a new mattress!
May 26, 2010 at 10:06 pm #670344
inactiveMemberJust to see, I googled “Laura Miller, Catalyst Commercial”.
This forum thread comes up second in the string of results, right under Ms. Miller’s company profile. That can’t be great for promotions in a city filled with creatives and techies.
May 26, 2010 at 10:32 pm #670345
GenHillOneParticipantI did the same thing westseattledood – couldn’t help myself, ain’t public info grand? – and found it interesting that on one of the self-managed professional sites (LinkedIn), Ms. Miller is listed as owner of Catalyst, but is NOT identified that way on the Catalyst site (just Mr. Regan as Christoper mentioned). Given her behavior, I would not doubt that she might be prone to toeing the line in a few areas. It doesn’t sound like Mr. Regan is all that interested in Catalyst’s image, but perhaps he’d be surprised to know he has a co-owner, lol. I could be totally wrong, and I apologize if so, but perception is key, Mr. Regan, and you might have your hands full here! As far as business, yeah, she probably does a lot, because she’s the only one with an assistant listed on the Catalyst site. busy, busy, busy!
May 26, 2010 at 10:46 pm #670346
CarsonParticipantIf you do a business license search you find that only Regan is a licensed broker at Catalyst, Ms Miller is only a “Real Estate Salesperson” with several other sales people in the same office. If she is an owner, they need to update the state licensing dept, they only list Regan.
May 27, 2010 at 1:51 am #670347
FullTiltParticipantI just think it shows a lack of integrity. When I am looking for a commercial broker, I want one that is not quite as obvious in their stealing, so at least I can sleep happy in my delusion that they are not screwing me to badly.
May 27, 2010 at 2:13 am #670348
Garden_nymphMemberI certainly hope people are taking screen shots from the sites that Ms. Miller is using images illegally! Justin, great job on letting Getty know. Christopher, please keep us posted as your story unfolds. Ms. Miller lack morals and I hope her business starts to suffer for it!
May 28, 2010 at 2:56 am #670349
swParticipantI guarantee that they got a call from Getty Images – likely within minutes after they were alerted. I have purchased countless stock images over the years for The Job, and all the stock photo companies take unauthorized use very seriously, and have means to track the watermarks in both comp and high-res imagery. 100% certain Catalyst is now on their “watch list” as well.
Good job to WSB Nation for keeping an eye on these folks. Once or twice can be chalked up to ignorance – more than that constitutes fraud and blatant disregard for copyright law. Keep up the good work!
May 29, 2010 at 9:18 am #670350
BlendParticipantcrime stoppers unite!
May 30, 2010 at 10:19 am #670351
livingonthebeachMemberWhile I agree that the steps Ms. Miller took to use and profit from the photos were wrong, the business structure of Catalyst is not the issue here. Real Estate firms can only have one designated broker per office (may have many other associate brokers though). So even if Ms. Miller is an owner of the business, she is not required to also be the broker.
And for what it’s worth, I am sure word of this got back to the NWMLS (the online listing service real estate agents belong to list properties and businesses). The NWMLS works in concert with the Department of Licensing and I am most certain if this issue was presented to them she would have faced a very hefty fine from them too. Agents and brokers have been fined and reprimanded for things as simple as sending a solicitation letter to a house already listed, to the more severe of letting someone use your access key to enter a home. Fine for the later were as much as $10,000.
I am certain she learned a valuable lesson from all this.
May 30, 2010 at 1:27 pm #670352
CarsonParticipantSo she might be a part owner after all….
Learn a valuable lesson? 1 year ago she was sued for stealing pictures. She lost. A few days ago she was posting listings using stolen pictures. Do you think she learned her lesson? It doesn’t look like it. She doesn’t give damn, if thats not obvious yet!
May 30, 2010 at 2:28 pm #670353
christopherboffoliParticipantlivingonthebeach: As it happens, the DOL was brought into the loop about the violation last year. And if you look at their written policies, enforcement of ethical violations does fall under their umbrella. However, I’m disappointed to tell you that they did absolutely nothing. In fact, most of their energy was devoted to correspondence telling me they were disinterested in taking any action. I don’t call on our state’s government very often. But I have to say that, the few times I have, my experience has been that it isn’t exceptionally productive.
May 31, 2010 at 3:19 am #670354
livingonthebeachMemberDidn’t realize the timeline was so long ago, but now it makes sense. As real estates agents there was a huge push to tell agents about using copy written photos, and making sure you have written permission to use the photo.
I guess I didn’t read down far enough to see there were other infractions….yikes. OK, so I retract my “lesson learned” comment. And sorry you were bounced around Christopher, but glad you stuck it out and stood up for your livelihood.
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