Brokers in Los Angeles' ritzy South Bay are engaging in an all-out battle over the display of listings data on the Internet, and one competitor has interpreted the National Association of Realtors's Internet data exchange policy in a way that tries to make two wrongs add up to one right.

Hermosa Beach-based CataList Homes accused some of the area's biggest brokerages of throwing their weight around by reportedly pulling out of IDX and subsequently demanding that CataList remove their listings from its Web site, according to CataList co-founder and EVP Michael Davin. But whether Davin complies with their demands is another matter, so the battle continues between the discount realty services provider and the traditional full commission brokerages.

Two-year-old CataList represents sellers only and splits its 3 percent take 50/50 with buyer-side agents. The company is known for its print ads that read, "Take a glimpse at the future in real estate--take the fat out of real estate commissions" and sport a "fat free" milk carton "formulated for the empowered consumer."

It's no secret that so-called discounters and traditional realty brokerages engage in turf battles that involve the MLS. Withholding listings from IDX sharing is a common business strategy for some realty companies. NRT-owned Coldwell Banker brokerages, for instance, have been known to opt-out of IDX in some places.

Brokerages that dominate a local market area argue there's no reason to fatten their competitors' Web sites with their listings. The competitors argue that brokers who opt out are doing a disservice to home sellers who don't get the broader exposure of their home on the Internet.

Davin said when he's informed of an IDX pullout, he checks the broker's Web site for proof that it displays only its own listings. If he finds other brokers' listings on the Web site, he decides the company isn't complying with the IDX rules and he continues to display that company's listings data on CataList's Web site.

"We comply with IDX when the other firms comply with IDX," he said. "Simply put, they are showing ours so we show theirs."

CataList is no stranger to IDX wars. In September 2002 the company found itself in the eye of the storm as the IDX controversy in the region turned cutthroat. CataList at the time claimed it was the first brokerage in the South Bay to implement IDX, but it then displayed only 40 percent of the local listings because two of the region's largest brokerages opted out of the data-sharing policy.

RE/MAX All Cities, previously RE/MAX Beach Cities, is one of the area's biggest brokerages with 13 offices and 678 agents in the Los Angeles area and it never opted in to IDX.

"Agents feel it's giving away all of our inventory to small discount brokerages....we sure don't want to help them (and) all of our inventory is available other places," said RE/MAX All Cities founder Robert Todd.

Todd said RE/MAX attorneys sent Davin a letter demanding that he remove RE/MAX listings from the CataList Web site. He added the two companies routinely engage in listings tug of war.

"(CataList) removes (the RE/MAX listings) and then puts them back," said Todd.

He added that the RE/MAX offices could opt in to IDX once a consensus is reached among the brokerages' agents. Until then he will continue to police the use of the company's listings.

The 3,000-member Greater South Bay MLS appears not to be paying much attention to the squabbling over IDX.

Only one brokerage has opted out in the past three months, according to the MLS' Chief Association Executive John Churchill. He declined to name the brokerage and wouldn't reveal what percentage of the MLS' membership had opted out of IDX.

Churchill also wouldn't comment on whether the MLS is policing CataList's and RE/MAX's listings battle.

Todd said the MLS gets a copy of every letter RE/MAX sends CataList.

Davin wouldn't comment on the situation between CataList and RE/MAX.

He also wouldn't estimate how much of the region's MLS data is currently opted in to IDX, but he said brokers who were withholding their listing data were "digging their own graves."

He added CataList will soon bypass the whole issue by opening a virtual office Web site. VOWs as they currently exist enable brokers to display all MLS listings data to registered prospective home buyers even if the listing broker opts out of IDX.

"Consumers will vote which business models are successful and which are not. They will choose the consumer-friendly model and avoid those engaging in these little turf wars," he said.