So What Do You Think of Pinterest Now?
I love Pinterest and have been pinning away.
I have over 100 boards and over 1400 followers. I pin images from many different types of things I am interested in from recipes to vintage collectibles.
To be honest I did not read their TOU too closely when I signed up. You should always read a sites terms of use (TOU) when you join!
Up until about a year ago I was very involved in the Mixed Media art world. I was a designer for an image sheet website for about 3 years, a writer on their website creating tutorials using their products. My art had been published in a few magazines and a book. When I joined sites I paid much closer to the TOS. People stealing images of your art work is very common. People taking an image of your art work and photoshopping it into something else and profiting from it is very common.
Now I am a food blogger. Recipes can not be copy righted. I got a little lax in paying attention the TOU of sites that I joined. I quickly scan them to make sure they do not own my content if I publish it to their site.
How I missed the big warning sign on Pinterest I don’t know.
How I missed the big warning sign on Pinterest I don’t know.
For two weeks now I have been reading all the outcries over the copy right issues on Pinterest.
Well I make sure when I pin something the original site is given credit. And if you are thinking the way I was…… that it covered you as long as you gave credit then you better think again.
Well I make sure when I pin something the original site is given credit. And if you are thinking the way I was…… that it covered you as long as you gave credit then you better think again.
I read something last night that shocked me. It actually made my stomach drop. Here is what I read…….
Ownership
The Site, Application, Services and Site Content are protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws of the United States and foreign countries. Except as expressly provided in these Terms, Cold Brew Labs and its licensors exclusively own all right, title and interest in and to the Site, Application, Services and Site Content, including all associated intellectual property rights. You will not remove, alter or obscure any copyright, trademark, service mark or other proprietary rights notices incorporated in or accompanying the Site, Application, Services or Site Content.
That highlighted sentence means that any content you pin to the site gives away your ownership. More on that in a minute.
See highlighted text
Member Content
We may, in our sole discretion, permit Members to post, upload, publish, submit or transmit Member Content. By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services. Cold Brew Labs does not claim any ownership rights in any such Member Content and nothing in these Terms will be deemed to restrict any rights that you may have to use and exploit any such Member Content.
This highlighted sentence means that once you pin something on the site Pinterest now has the right to use your images any way they like. They can take an image and use it the way it is or change it and use it.
They also can profit from that use and there is nothing you can do. Here is an example: They could take your image and print up t-shirts, sell 5 million of them and you won’t see a dime of the money and you have agreed to that. There is nothing you can do about it. By using the site you have agreed to the terms of their service.
This is why so many photographers and artists are up in arms about Pinterest.
Notice in the next un-highlighted sentence they say that they are not claiming any rights to your content and that they will not restrict you from any rights to your own content.
That’s a bit confusing isn’t it? Sounds like they may have canceled out the highlighted term before that one. To me what I think it means is that they have the right to use your content that you have uploaded to the sight but they will still allow you to use your own content however you see fit outside of Pinterest.
Now you may be thinking well fine that doesn’t affect me because all I do is pin things I find on other blogs or websites. If I see a cool craft idea I just pin it and this little clause in the terms of service doesn’t affect me in the least. I make sure that my pin links back to the original content. So I am good to go.
Read on………
You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for all Member Content that you make available through the Site, Application and Services. Accordingly, you represent and warrant that: (i) you either are the sole and exclusive owner of all Member Content that you make available through the Site, Application and Services or you have all rights, licenses, consents and releases that are necessary to grant to Cold Brew Labs the rights in such Member Content, as contemplated under these Terms; and (ii) neither the Member Content nor your posting, uploading, publication, submission or transmittal of the Member Content or Cold Brew Labs’ use of the Member Content (or any portion thereof) on, through or by means of the Site, Application and the Services will infringe, misappropriate or violate a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral rights or other proprietary or intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy, or result in the violation of any applicable law or regulation.
This means that you must be the owner of the content you pin on Pinterest and if you are not Pinterest is not responsible.
You agreed to the TOS by using the site.
That means that you agree that any content you pin you have the rights to do whatever you want to with it. That you are the owner. But if your pinning from someones blog you are not the owner are you?
Pinterest is covered and can not be held responsible (in vio
lation of copy right laws) if you pin something you don’t have to rights to by adding this into their TOS.
So what am I going to do? I have two boards that I have pinned my own blog content to. I think I am going to delete those boards.
Now if you have pinned my content based on the TOS I can contact Pinterest and they will remove it because you don’t hold any rights to my content.
But because I pinned my own contents and I do have the copy right to those images I have given away my rights to that content and it is all legal and binding based on Pinterest terms of service.
So How Do You Like Pinterest Now?
What do you think?
Will you stop pinning? Will you remove your own content?
Leave a comment and let me know what you think.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a copy right lawyer. I have no legal expertise. All opinions are my own based on how I have perceived the terms of service as written on the Pinterest site.
Exactly why I don't upload my personal photos anywhere on the internet.
I had no idea and yes, I'm removing my content. Thanks for posting!
I find this all fascinating. The internet and blogging world is so vast and I find tons of inspiration on there. Pinterest has become my way of finding my inspiration. What do you do with those blogs that have a "pin" button on each of their posts – does that mean they are giving you permission to pin their product because that is how I have seen it. Thanks for this post.
plain and simple, that sucks! the whole idea of pinterest has been to inspire you with others ideas! how can we do that if we can't use someone else's picture? we aren't stealing for heaven's sake- we are admiring!
It's my understanding that if someone has a 'pin it' button on a specific post or image, then they are granting you the right to pin it. But that is not the same as someone just adding a link to their own pin boards.
I am still undecided about how to proceed. I keep thinking that Pinterest has to clarify things and that they'll do it soon. I'd hate to delete everything and then they update the TOU to make it more reasonable. But if they don't fix it, or at least address it, then I will probably and eventually delete my own pins. I do not know if I would pursue the deletion of my work that other people have pinned.
The phrase 'on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services.' seems to indicate that the license Cold Brew Labs is being granted (or taking) when content is posted does not extend beyond Pinterest.
Requiring people to have ownership and rights to post anything seems to negate the whole purpose of Pinterest. No wonder people never read these things – they're beyond confusing!
I will probably just go back to the "old way" – if I see something I want to remember to read or do later, I'll either bookmark it or copy the link in a file I keep on my personal computer.
Thank you for explaining this so plainly! I have spent most of the day taking photos off there. Now, I think I will just delete all my own photos right now. I hope it is not too late. A very heavy fee to pay for the traffic to our blogs.