(1) "Advertising" or "advertisement" means a representation about any product, service, equipment, facility, or activity or any person who makes, distributes, sells, rents, leases, or otherwise makes available such a product, service, equipment, facility, or activity, when the representation:
(a) Is communicated to a person that, to any extent, by content or context, informs the recipient about such product, service, equipment, facility, or activity;
(b) Recognizes, honors, or otherwise promotes such a product, service, equipment, facility, or activity; or
(c) Invites, advises, recommends, or otherwise solicits a person to participate in, inquire about, purchase, lease, rent, or use such a product, service, equipment, facility, or activity.
(2) "Associates of producers" has the same meaning as set forth in RCW
48.29.010 (3)(f).
(3) "Bona fide employee of a title company" means an individual who devotes substantially all of his or her time to performing services on behalf of a title company and whose compensation for these services is in the form of salary or its equivalent by the title company.
(4) "Commercial real estate" means a fee title interest or possessory estate in real property located in this state, except an interest in real property which is:
(a) Improved with one-single family residential unit or multifamily structure with four or less residential units;
(b) Unimproved and the maximum permitted development is one to four residential units or structures under the county or city zoning ordinances or comprehensive plan applicable to that real estate;
(c) Classified as farm and agricultural land or timber land for assessment purposes under chapter
84.34 RCW; or
(d) Improved with singe-family residential units such as condominiums, townhouses, timeshares, or stand-alone houses in a subdivision that may be legally sold, leased, or otherwise disposed of on a unit-by-unit basis.
(5) "Give" means to transfer to another person, or cause another person to receive, retain, use or otherwise benefit from a thing of value whether or not the title company receives compensation in return. It also means the transfer to a third person of anything of value that in any manner benefits a person in a position to refer or influence the referral of title insurance business.
(6) "Market rate" means the price at which a seller, under no obligation or duress to sell, is willing to accept and a buyer, under no obligation or duress to buy, is willing to pay in an arms-length transaction. The market rate is determined by comparing the items or services purchased or sold to similar items or services that have been recently purchased by others or sold to others, including others not in the title insurance business.
(7) "Person" has the meaning set forth in RCW
48.01.070.
(8) "Producers of title insurance business" or "producer" has the meaning set forth in RCW
48.29.010 (3)(e); this term includes associates of producers and any person in a position to refer or influence the referral of title business to the title company.
(9) "Representative of a title company" means any person acting directly or indirectly on behalf of the title company.
(10) "Restrictive covenants" means private agreements that restrict the use or occupancy of real property generally by specifying lot sizes, building lines, occupancy, architectural styles, and the use to which the property may be put. Restrictive covenants do not include matters such as easements and road maintenance agreements.
(11) "Self-promotional" means an advertisement or promotional function which is conducted by a single title company solely for the benefit of the title company or a promotional item intended for distribution by a single title company and only on behalf of the title company.
(12) "Thing of value" means anything that has a monetary value. It includes but is not limited to cash or its equivalent, tangible objects, services, use of facilities, monetary advances, extensions of lines of credit, creation of compensating balances, title company employee time, advertisements, discounts, salaries, commissions, services at special prices or rates, sales or rentals at special prices or rates, and any other form of consideration, reward or compensation.
(13) "Title company" means either a title insurance company authorized to conduct title insurance business in this state under chapter
48.05 RCW or a title insurance agent defined in RCW
48.17.010(15), or both. The term includes employees, representatives, and agents of title insurance companies and title insurance agents.
(14) "Trade association" means an association of persons, a majority of whom are producers or persons whose primary activity involves real property. Trade association does not include an association of persons, a majority of whom are title insurance companies and title insurance agents.