Like lots of people I have been delighted by the opportunities that Pinterest offers. And like lots of people I imagine, I opened an account without really reading the small print and got pinning away to my heart’s content in complete oblivion. However there has been a lot of online discussion about this site of late and the issues surrounding copyright.
knitsofacto has a great article here but I too feel like I want to say something about it which won’t necessarily add to the debate (might widen the audience possibly) but to outline my expectations of people who may be pinning me. It is worth reading this article whether you feel you have the time to or not, whether you’re a just a pinner or an artist and pinner, or just an artist.
What I didn’t know even though I have ticked ‘read terms and conditions’ was that if I pin an image onto one of my boards it is agreed that I either own the copyright or have asked for permission.
If you pin something Pinterest is assuming that you have asked permission or own the copyright because that’s what you agreed when you signed up.
If you pin something of mine onto one of your boards, it assumes that you own the copyright (which of course you don’t) or that you have asked my permission (which no-one ever has.)
First then the log in my own eye before I pick at the splinters in others. I apologise to anyone whose image I may have pinned onto one of my boards without asking for permission and please be reassured that I am making it a priority to tidy up those boards by removing anything which compromises your copyright on your image or work, and to properly credit the source of the image or article.
Lazy pinning means that we often just re-pin images from where we saw them, not from their original source. This means that proper credit gets lost amongst all the re-pinning.
Here’s the scarier bit…
” Pinterest’s terms of use state that if you upload content to Pinterest, then you’re giving Pinterest permission to distribute, sublicense, and sell that 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.”
From http://greekgeek.hubpages.com/hub/Is-Pinterest-a-Haven-for-Copyright-Violations
This means that by pinning others work, or by pinning mine, we are giving Cold Brew Labs (the company behind Pinterest) the right to store that image (full size!) on their own servers for ever, for future use should they wish to use it and profit it from it.
Some may say ‘Oh no-one will ever let that happen, it’s an enormous global copyright scandal and won’t be allowed’ and I imagine, and hope that, that will be the case as lawyers argue the fine points.
But I am going to do what I can now to make sure that my work is not compromised by asking you not to pin my work to a Pinterest board. You could open a Word document and drag an image into it and save it as inspiration or reference that way (like I used to before Pinterest and will be returning to now.)
I’m going to use this as an opportunity to use my sketchbook more effectively and instead of pinning things that inspire me, I’m going to try to draw, record and write from the screen straight into my sketchbook.
Mostly the internet offers us opportunities that could never have been explored before and sometimes we run like lemmings over the cliff believing that every global web-site that’s well designed, is well-designed for our benefit. And sometimes it isn’t as straightforward as that. Time to think again perhaps?
You may notice I have amended my copyright statement now.
28 comments
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February 21, 2012 at 11:23 am
Jenny
holy crap….I’m away to delete my pinterest account…how could I have been so ignorant! (as in never reading the small print..lesson learned!) Thankyou Claire. This is entirely eye opening and a large bit scary…
February 21, 2012 at 11:23 am
Scrapiana
Hmmm, I will now go read the small print. Thanks for drawing the whole debacle to our attention, Claire.
February 21, 2012 at 12:03 pm
Anna
Not good.
If you read the small print a well known company offering ‘artists websites’ have the same conditions.
February 21, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Chloe
Oh goodness! I don’t have an account myself but have had images pinned from my blog, I’m off to update my copyright statement…
February 21, 2012 at 2:55 pm
anne
Wow. Thanks for the heads up, Claire.
February 21, 2012 at 4:31 pm
Helen Mills
Thanks Claire. I opened a pinterest account but have never actually done anything to it. Not sure how I would know if my work has been ‘pinned’. Not good eh!
February 21, 2012 at 4:32 pm
sue
It’s a tricky one Claire mainly because we’re all hooked into the whole pinterest thing, I don’t think I’m going to delete my account but I’m pinning much more thoughtfully and checking everything, which means I’m pinning less, which doesn’t seem to have the same draw as just pinning away willy-nilly (such a great phrase!). Anyway an eyeopener and sharp reminder that although the internet is wonderful we still have to use our brains and think!!!!!
February 21, 2012 at 8:33 pm
Claire
Sue, just be aware that when you pin others images you have to get permission first. When you pin an image to a board you are effectively telling Pimterest that that person has agreed that Cold Press Lab’s can store, use and profit from that image. Your pinning can affect the livelihood of other artists :0
February 21, 2012 at 5:09 pm
Allison Tillcock (@AllisonTillcock)
There had to be a catch some where I suppose! Hope things get ‘unpinned’ as a consequence for you. Don’t have time to go near it….!
February 21, 2012 at 5:26 pm
stephanieredfern
Thanks for this Claire. Also, well done re resigning your job, I’m sure you will do well. It’s something I dream of too. I’ve taught for 26 years and although I do become very fond of my students I only ever wanted to be an artist, that was the whole idea of giving up a proper job and going to art college! You are right in that you need all your time for your art. I don’t think Tracy Emin or David Hockney did much teaching…
Well done with the RWS acceptance too.
February 21, 2012 at 11:56 pm
susan
Wow ! this is all so terrible – the founder of Pinterest Ben Silbbermen was recently the key – note speaker at the Alt. Summit. He received a standing ovation at the end of his hour long chat – which sounded nothing but earnest & inspiring. It’s shocking to think that the absolute “who’s who” of the creative/design blogging world would stand & cheer fro him – someone there must know all of this ??? yikes. I love Pinterest. I feel completely bummed.
Your work is so very lovely. Congrats on devoting yourself full time to it. & I’ve been meaning to ask you how the surface design course is going – it’s next up on my roster of e-courses I’m dying to take.
Love that tea table painting. L-O-V-E !!! xoxo Susan & les Gang
February 23, 2012 at 9:12 am
Annie
You have added to the debate though Claire … do we continue to use Pinterest ‘as is’ but with care, or look to Pinterest to make the necessary change? Do we hedge ourselves round with often unworkable copyright declarations, or embrace creative commons licensing, which does not take ownership away from us but gives us more control over how what we own is used. Or do we accept that people will always find a way around these things and take advantage if they want to.
I think those T&Cs probably reflect a desire on Pinterests part not to be sued for inadvertently breaching copyright rather than that they intend to do so, but I also suspect that we will all be profiled on the basis of what we pin so that advertisers can target us precisely when the site monetises. And that’s the next big thing of course … currently they operate on venture capital and don’t make a penny, sooner or later they have to generate enough to pay the money guys back.
Gorgeous images here … by the way do you realise that if you don’t want your stuff pinned you just need to add this code to your site’s html …
Good luck, again, with your career move, I’m so excited for you x
February 23, 2012 at 7:27 pm
penny
I was going to say there is a code to add so that a picture wont get pinned. Not sure tho if it has to be pinned to every picture of your blog/website.
It’s not widely advertised and I came across it clicking through numerous forums to get to it!
I dont know if this works or what a meta name is!
February 23, 2012 at 7:28 pm
penny
oh the address has disappeared and so has the one above me!
February 29, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Brenda
thanks for the info. I’m going to update my copyright info as well.
February 29, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Dana Barbieri
Wow, I had no idea of this whole thing. I am so in love with Pinterest and I am saddened to read this. I am going to go read the article and then I guess just saved all the images to my hard drive? not sure what to do.
March 3, 2012 at 2:47 am
Dawn
Well said…I have recently just erased my pinterest boards and account…don’t want any part of it..I also added an embed code to my blog to stop others pinning me without consent..it’s terrible really to think that this has even got off the ground considering all the copyright laws and such..here’s to being a bit more considerate of others work and photo’s…
Hugs Dawn x
March 3, 2012 at 2:49 am
Dawn
Oh just a question? Could I add this post to my blog as a reference for others to read?
Dawn x
March 3, 2012 at 5:14 am
Jenelle
The way that copyright law works in the U.S. is that you reserve all exclusive rights as the originator or creator of your work unless you transfer those rights to other party by offering a license or granting permission for use. If someone else pins your copyrighted material they do not have the right to transfer licence or permission to Pinterest to utilize it. It would be a violation of copyright law for Pinterest to attempt to distribute, sell, reprint, or otherwise republish your material without your direct, written consent. Yes, lengthy litigation would most likely be involved to uphold the legal statue, but without your legal permission to use your original material, Pinterest would most certainly be in violation of the law. Here is an excerpt taken from Title 17 of the U.S. code (the actual copyright law document):
§204 · Execution of transfers of copyright ownership
(a) A transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of law, is not
valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of the transfer, is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or such owner’s duly authorized agent.
I hope this helps to clarify the legal standpoint a bit.
March 4, 2012 at 10:43 am
Claire
http://ddkportraits.com/2012/02/why-i-tearfully-deleted-my-pinterest-inspiration-boards/
Hi Jenelle, the link above was an article I read from an American lawyer who is also a photographer.
March 3, 2012 at 7:26 pm
Lena Karen
Thank you for all the information. I did not know, I do not have an account at Pinterest, but I did find some of my pictures there…..
March 3, 2012 at 11:32 pm
Nancy Schaub
I am so glad I never opened a Pinterest account. WOW! I also want to say that your flower photos are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. May I please ask what camera you use? I am soon to make the leap from SLR to D-SLR and am so confused by all that is available. Thank you.
March 4, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Claire
Hi Nancy, thank you 🙂 My camera is an Olympus SP 600UZ. I have mixed feelings about going so far as to recommend it – the macro function is amazing, hence the great flower shots but in it’s first year it needed to go back under guarantee for fixing twice. Maybe I was just unlucky. It also requires rechargeable batteries and I’d really prefer a mains charger. Good luck deciding! Claire.
March 4, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Lena Karen
http://makingamark.blogspot.com/2012/02/pinterest-how-to-prevent-your-blogger.html
Hi, this link is to a site that shows how to provent somebody to copy your pictures to Pinterest.
Hugs Lena
March 4, 2012 at 9:48 pm
Wanda Stivison
Whoa! What is the purpose of being able to repin then? Sounds like it doesn’t have a” legal ” function! They need to have the repin go to the original site to ask for permission then. I thought it was to be able to promote others works, products or sites and thought it was a pretty good marketing tool! I would never have found some of those places to buy from or get patterns, recipes or what ever they offered already publicly.
March 4, 2012 at 10:33 pm
Claire
I think for some things, like sharing a receipe or recommending a good book or seeing an amazing place in the world that you’d like to go, Pinterest is great, so long as you get permission to copy the photo’s that accompany your pin.
There is certainly going to be lots of interest from product makers when the site monetises at some stage in the future. Just think of the data concerning everyone’s interests that Pinterest will have collected.
But if you are selling original, non-mass produced items and designs, I think it is a very different story.
October 19, 2014 at 10:30 am
Harrison
At this time it appears like WordPress is the best
blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve
read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
October 22, 2014 at 10:15 am
Claire
Harrison – it’s a WordPress template that a developer has designed onto. Hope that helps you.