Chart by Chart of the Day (@chartoftheday)
Business Insider SAI (@SAI) reports that Kirsten Kowalski (@ddkportraits), a lawyer with a passion for photography, browsed Pinterest's (@Pinterest) Terms of Use and found Pinterest's members are solely responsible for what they pin and repin. They must have explicit permission from the owner to post everything.
“I immediately thought of the ridiculously gorgeous images I had recently pinned from an outside website, and, while I gave the other photographer credit, I most certainly could not think of any way that I either owned those photos or had a license, consent or release from the photographer who owned them,” Kristen writes.
Kristen turned to federal copyright laws and found a section on fair use. Copyrighted work can only be used without permission when someone is criticizing it, commenting on it, reporting on it, teaching about it, or conducting research. Repinning doesn't fall under any of those categories.
A court case allowed thumbnail images to be considered fair use, but Pinterest lifts the entire image, not a thumbnail.
If that didn't scare Kristen enough, the all caps section of Pinterest's Terms of Use did:
“YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SITE, APPLICATION, SERVICES AND SITE CONTENT REMAINS WITH YOU.”
What's more, Pinterest places all blame and potential legal fees on its users.
Basically, if a photographer sues you for pinning an image illegally on Pinterest, the user must not only pay for his or her lawyer, they must also pay for Pinterest's lawyer. In addition, the defendant must pay all charges against him or herself, along with all of Pinterest's charges.
Kristen likens Pinterest to Napster as an enabler of illegal activity. It wasn't just Napster that went down – 12 year old girls who downloaded music were sued too.
She concluded her post inviting someone from Pinterest to call her. Someone did. The founder. Read about it at “My Date with Ben Silbermann — Following Up and Drying My Tears.” Bottom line: She writes Silbermann said “some changes are on the way in the very near future.”
Also see Adweek’s (@Adweek) “Brands Pinning it on Pinterest” and “Pinterest: The New Facebook for Lifestyle Magazines.”
Somersault (@smrsault) is beginning a Pinterest board. What should we put on it?
Infographic by Modea (@Modea)