{"id":1605,"slug":"treb-vow-restrictions-abuse-dominance-s79","title":"TREB VOW restrictions held to be abuse of dominance under Competition Act s.79 (2016 Tribunal redetermination); order requires TREB to stop restricting members' access/use of historical+sale-price data on VOWs","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["mls-data-licensing","competition-law-canada"],"reference_body":"**Claim.** What the case OPENED: TREB's VOW policies — which excluded sold/historical data (previous listing and sale prices, etc.) from the VOW feed and restricted its display — were held to be an abuse of dominant position under Competition Act s.79. The Tribunal order requires TREB to stop restricting members' access/use of the data, **including display of historical listings and sale prices online through VOWs.**\n\n**Source.** 2016 Comp Trib 7; 2017 FCA 236; canada.ca Competition Bureau, accessed 2026-06-21.\n\n**Confidence.** Verified.\n\n**Caveats.** \"Abuse of dominance under s.79\" is a specific statutory finding; the remedy is the order, not a blanket prohibition on all VOW restrictions.\n\n**Implication / use.** The substantive holding behind the consumer-portal explosion. Any \"sold data is now public\" claim traces back here.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"research-brief-mls-data-inside-the-box-ontario-june-2026","title":"Research notes (capture-layer): inside the MLS box — what an Ontario member agent's account exposes, what goes unused, and what they're licensed to do with it (June 2026)","kind":"research-notes","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"competition-bureau-v-treb-2011-2018-saga-timeline","title":"Commissioner of Competition v. Toronto Real Estate Board (2011-2018) — full 7-year timeline; SCC denied TREB's final leave Aug 23 2018","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-mls-data-inside-the-box-ontario-june-2026","title":"Research notes (capture-layer): inside the MLS box — what an Ontario member agent's account exposes, what goes unused, and what they're licensed to do with it (June 2026)","kind":"research-notes","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-21T10:51:32.790Z","updated_at":"2026-06-21T10:51:32.790Z"}