From the Legal Hotline

By Teri Henning, General Counsel; Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Counsel
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

Q: A real estate agency wants to list the names of their agents in large text using all capital letters while listing the company name in smaller text using lower case letters. Can a real estate ad contain different size text or letter cases for the real estate agent and the employing real estate company?

A: The font sizes must be the same and PNA recommends using letters of the same case.

49 Pa.Code § 35.305(c) requires associate brokers, salespersons, cemetery associate broker or cemetery salespersons to include the business name and telephone number of their employing broker in all ads. Section 305 (c) also requires the names and telephone numbers to be equal in size.

The law does not address the use of capital case versus lower case but the intent of the law is that sales person’s information is the same size as the their employing broker. The use of different cases creates the appearance of different size, a direct conflict with the intent of the law therefore, it is best to avoid using different cases.

To read 49 Pa.Code § 35.305: [CLICK HERE]

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