Being on the title company side of this industry, I don't think I would employ an abstractor who uses this method. I personally like to see what I'm paying for. Think of it as an apple if you will. Sure, one half might be all red and perfect, but would you really eat and pay for it without being able to see the other half? Now let's look at that same apple after you pay for it; it's not until we've turned it over to learn that the apple tree was in a pasture and the apple fell into a pile of cow manure and is now rotten. The first half might have been edible for those of you out there who are brave enough, but that second half was already claimed by the worm.

It's a decent idea though. Instead of concealing 50%, it might be a better idea to use the copyright watermark as suggested in a previous posting. The watermark could have your company's information and contact info on it, so if your customer "stole" your product, their client would in turn see your information on it and could possibly contact you for further business. Of course, it could always go the other way around and no one cares about the watermark being on there. I personally wouldn't want to freely advertise someone else's business on our product, and would be okay with committing to payment to have a copy of the search without the watermark.

Just my two cents.