You might have heard the rumblings around the Internet about the darling of social media, Pinterest, and the issue surrounding copy-write infringement of images pinned on the site.
Is there a potential that pinning or re-pinning of images might land you in court? Before I attempt to answer this question I must state that I am not an attorney and I am not offering legal advice.
Everything stated in this message is to be considered my own opinion, and not an official representation of Pinterest, Pinterest employees or any other Pinterest pinners.
Actual mileage may vary.
Price does not include tax, title, and license.
Some assembly required.
Each sold separately.
Batteries not included.
Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.
If conditions persist, contact a physician.
Keep out of reach of children.
Avoid prolonged exposure to direct sunlight.
Keep in a cool dark place.
Grammar and punctuation errors have been placed their purposely as an exercise for the reader.
Now that the disclaimers are out of the way let's talk.
I personally like Pinterest and I find it rather addictive and to that note I think the potential, both good and bad, for this site is huge.
People spend more time on Pinterest per visit than Google+ and Facebook combined.
People love the imagery and the mix of ideas.
As for the bad side of the equation there is a potential for copy-write infringement.
Individuals who use images not of their own run the risk of copy-write infringement and potential legal ramifications.
This also includes individuals who re-pin an image as they may be liable as well.
Now, before everyone runs to delete their Pinterest account in a panic let's consider a few things.
First, if your dumb enough to use someone elses work then you probably deserve to be sued but what about re-pinning? You may not know if the original pinner had permission to use the image so is ignorance a release of liability? Probably not.
I think the best course of action is to be sure that the image you pin is either your original image or that the image is the property of the original pinner.
Sounds pretty simple eeeeh? So what's all the hubbub? I think the biggest issue is the re-pinning.
Presently there are pinners who have re-pinned literally thousands of images and to determine how many were used illegally and by exactly who would be a nightmare.
(There are probably a bunch of hungry lawyers out there who would just drool over that idea) This may get you to wonder, what is Pinterest's roll in all this? This is the part that I personally get worried about.
If you read Pinterest terms of use policy they put the whole issue in the laps of the users and they require that the user hold Pinterest harmless for all actions.
They also put in that if they are sued the user in question must pay for Pinterests legal assistance.
Whohhhhhh Nelly!!! You mean that if Pinterest gets sued over an image of someone's cute puppy and it just so happened that I re-pinned that image because I thought it was cute too, now I have to pay for Pinterests legal team? YEP!! That's what it means.
Now I bet your ready to start dumping all kinds of images off your account.
I wouldn't rush to do so quite yet.
Let's look at another side of this.
In order to be sued the suer would have to prove that they were damaged in some form or fashion.
They would also have to prove that you did it with intent.
I can't imagine that re-pinning an image of a cute puppy because you thought it was cute would constitute intent to cause harm.
This whole issue of Copy-write infrinement is getting somewhat out of hand.
I can understand the outright theft of material for gain by those that simply don't want to pay any sort of royalty to an artist but if I took a picture of my aunt Betty falling off a boat, which by the way is true and it was hilarious, then someone else saw the image and re-posted it on the Internet because they thought it was funny too, should that individual be sued? Did they use my copy-writed material without my approval? To me the answer is no.
If they acquired an image that did not have a copy-write notice attached then they should have the right to re-use the image.
My aunt Betty might not be too happy but then she has a good sense of humor and can laugh at herself.
In a way I find this whole issue kind of stupid.
In our world of sue all the bastards mentality we forget that things could be real simple if we let them be.
If you see an image of yours on Pinterest don't get angry, get over it.
Someone pinned it there because they liked it.
Do you really have to get credit? Will your kids go hungry because of it? Believe me there are far more important things in this world to deal with than the fact that someone pinned your picture and you didn't get credit ( ahhhh poor baby).
In closing I have to say there are a few pinners that seem to adhere to the idea of giving credit to images not their own.
Not all are just throwing up images.
As for those images that we have pinned and re-pinned (hopefully we already got your permission) if not and we did use an image inadvertently and you are the owner of those images we are formally asking permission to use them and if you do not want us to use them then why didn't you put a watermark or copy-write notice on them? Seriously, for those that use other people images all I can say is show some respect and give credit where credit is due and this may keep YOU from being pinned to the court docket.