Pinterest…A Copyright
Holder’s Interest
Gone
are the days of little girls cutting pictures from magazine and pinning them to
a bulletin board in their room. Those
little girls have grown up and have now made Pinterest the third most used
social media site on the Internet.[1]
Pinterest
permits a registered user to capture an image and place the image on the
registered users “board” or page. Registered
users create bulletin boards based on a theme, topic or interest. The categories are as broad as a color and as
narrow as a specific feature of an item.
Registered users follow other registered users and/or bulletin boards
and can re-pin images that other registered users found. There is no limit to the amount of times an
image can be re-pinned.
While
Pinterest can serve as a great marketing tool to get the word out about a
product or design, it can be a copyright holder’s worst nightmare. Copyright ownership includes a bundle of rights. Part of the bundle of rights include the
right to display, the right to copy, and the right to make derivative
works. If anyone can go onto a website,
pin your image, and then the image can be re-pinned - the three exclusive
rights held by a copyright owner have just be trampled upon.
"Subject to any applicable account settings
you select, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable,
sublicensable, worldwide license to use, display, reproduce, re-pin, modify
(e.g., re-format), re-arrange, and distribute your User Content on Pinterest
for the purposes of operating and providing the Service(s) to you and to our
other Users." (Pinterest Terms of Service, April 15, 2012). While Pinterest's Acceptable Use Policy
clearly states that a registered user cannot post an image that violates any
laws or the intellectual property of others, very few users truly understand
what intellectual property infringement really is. Furthermore, once an image is pinned to a
bulletin board - it is subject to Pinterest's Terms of Use. It is possible that your image could be used
thousands of times before you uncover that your image has been illegally used.
Any
copyright owner needs to become vigilant regarding Pinterest. If a copyright owner wants to utilize Pinterest,
then "Pin It" buttons are available for download to place next to an
image. Pinterest has also developed code
for a copyright holder to place in the code of a web page to prevent
pinning. While it is easy for a person
to place code for a "Pin It" button, that is not the case for
prohibiting pinning. Many copyright
holders utilize website templates and automatic coding for additions to its
website, thus the ability to place custom code may not be readily available to
a copyright owner. Pinterest continues
to evolve its Terms of Use and options available to users. This evolution places an even bigger burden
on a copyright owner.
Pinterest
is here to stay and as a copyright owner, it is time to get on board. First and foremost, it is in a copyright
owner's best interest to register with Pinterest and create user name(s) that
are the same as any trademark(s) or titles of a major work that she may
own. Next, it is important to request to
follow those of interest to you - customers, end users, and perhaps
suppliers. This may be considered risky
but it is important to know what is going on with your competitors and the best
way to stay current is to become part of the scene. It is important to note that I am not
suggesting you follow a competitor.
Unless a copyright owner is friendly with a competitor, it is not a good
idea to follow a competitor directly just in case a competitor should ever
claim you copied. Access is an important
component in proving copying and you do not want to appear to have unclean
hands. Pinterest needs to become part of
your copyright monitoring routine.
While
monitoring Pinterest, should a copyright owner find her image - it is important
to act quickly and according to the procedures outlined by Pinterest for notice
of copyright infringement.
(pinterest.com/about/copyright).
First, take a screen shot of the board that includes your image. Next, gather any copyright registration
numbers and information required by Pinterest for any copyright infringement
takedown actions. File the appropriate
notice immediately with Pinterest and keep track of all send/receive receipts,
notices, and confirmations. Even if
Pinterest takes down the infringing image, the user that pinned your image may
still be liable for infringement. The
key for determining any further action against the user who used your image is
weighing the time and cost that may be involved versus the harm that you, the
copyright owner suffered. It is
important to note that a copyright registration is not necessarily required for
Pinterest to take down an infringing image.
However, it is incredibly helpful.
Pinterest
remains an ever evolving social media tool that can either be a benefit or
burden to a copyright owner. The key for
a copyright owner is to become familiar with Pinterest and if she plans on
making Pinterest work for her business, utilize educational resources available
to learn the right way to market on Pinterest while protecting your images (a
great resource is www.pinfriendology.com).
The key to Pinterest is knowledge - how to use Pinterest, how to prepare
your image(s) for use or non-use on Pinterest, how to report misuse, and how to
effectively handle any infringement.
