It seems everywhere I turn I’m seeing pins and pinterest and look what I just put on Pinterest and here’s how to use pinterest…
My niece told me about it months ago, I looked at it briefly and decided I was too busy to go down that rabbit hole. I still haven’t joined personally but I’m getting very confused, a little concerned, and want to see what everyone thinks. So here goes…
First – Paul Brent emailed me and asked if I’ve jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon. (Not in those words but that was the jist…) Answer – “No, I’m busy fighting a sinus infection and packing to move, should I check it out?” Yes is his reply.
Then I read a blog post by John R Math about how Pinterest can be a great way for artists to market their art – I’m definitely seeing lots of artists sharing inspiration with all the “I just pinned this or that” posts on Facebook.
Two days later, someone on Twitter sends me to this article –How You Could Get Sued For Using Pinterest. Well that’s a little disconcerting, so I go to the terms of use and find this:
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.
There sure seem to be a lot of things granted by choosing to use the website… and what if the “application” and/or “services” expand beyond what they are now? I put the grant section in bold.
I like that they are very specific about not claiming any ownership rights so there is no confusion about copyright issues… or are there?
Attorney Kyle-Beth Hilfer (who recently did an Ask Call with us) wrote a post – Pinterest’s Predicament: Legal Issues Prevent Social Media Maturity
More artists are weighing in on pinterest on their blogs –
- Here is what Lori McNee has to say about How to Use Pinterest and Still Respect Copyrights
- Alyson Stanfield, the Art Biz Coach, talks about How Artists Can Harness the Power of Pinterest
SO are my concerns valid or similar to the uproar about Facebook’s usage rights to pictures and images that was hot and heavy a while back? Anyone else wondering? More informed? Let’s discuss. Would love your perspectives in the comments.
Here’s to your creative success!
– Tara Reed
I personally love it, it’s very inspirational! And let’s face it, if you have images on your website anyone with basic computer knowledge can download them… or print screen them at least. If the resolution isn’t high enough, they just can’t sell them and so long as the link points back to, and gives credit to the artists it should be OK, really…
I think your concerns are valid. I closed my Pinterst account last week, installed the code on my website and put a note on my blog asking people not to pin (on WP.com – can’t use the code)
My photos are still on Facebook – I’m not wild about their terms – but I can live with them. And in most (if not all) cases – I’m the one who decides if I’m putting a particular photo on FB or not.
With Pinterest – anyone can put my photos up – and grant Pinterst/Cold Brew Labs – the rights under their TOS. I don’t have a choice about whether a particular photo ends up on Pinterest or not.
Another issue I have with Pinterest is the embed option – it seems to allow anyone to get the code to put anything on Pinterst onto their blog or website. I do license my photos for use on the web. If I find one of my photos used on a site without a license from me – I view it as copyright infringement. It won’t matter to me if someone swiped it from my website/blog without permission – or used the embed code from Pinterest – unauthorized use is unauthorized use. And I will file takedown DMCA complaints and on occasion have gotten my lawyer involved in copyright issues. I wonder if people who use Pinterest and use the embed option have any idea about possible ramifciations of using images that were posted to Pinterest by someone other than the copyright holder on their websites
I had a Pinterest account but ended up deleting it recently. I think the website is a good idea and it’s a lot of fun, but the TOS doesn’t seem very ethical to me.
There’s an ongoing discussion here.
http://ddkportraits.com/blog/
Kirsten the photographer, got a phone call from the creator of Pinterest. They are aware of the issues, and taking it all into consideration. I expect there will be changes to the TOS sooner or later.