Pinterest puts all legal risk squarely in the lap of its users, while reaping the rewards of their free labor, the free content they upload and their growing appeal to potential advertisers

via PDN Online.

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6 Comments

  1. Doesn’t this sound like Facebook or any other social media?

  2. Pinterest does seem to be just following the law, and like with all of the web under the DMCA, it’s up to the copyright owners to police it themselves via takedown notices.

    If enough copyright owners started sending DMCA takedown notices and block requests–and kept sending them–Pinterest would start to have an expensive bureaucratic problem that could really impact their business model.

    But I have a feeling a lot of big copyright owners are more than happy to have things like their latest ad campaign pinned to Pinterest (and Pinterest seems to have a lot of that type of content). It’s not copyright “theft” for them, it’s free, viral marketing that they couldn’t even buy if they wanted to.

  3. I’m curious if one can even absolve themselves of liability like that. I doubt it. Similar to how one can’t enforce contracts that have illegal clauses in them.

    The MPAA certainly doesn’t think that Pirate Bay is legal, even though Pirate Bay is basically doing even less than Pinterest.

    PB users post links that will get you the material. Pinterest users are posting the actual material. Though neither site is promoting illegal activity, it will most likely be rampant.

    Would love to hear a lawyers point of view on this.

  4. I decided not to fight the Pintrest battle.
    I charge my clients for the right to post my images. I provide copies that are watermarked with both my copyright and my clients firm name for use in social media and explain why it’s to their advantage to use those images.

    It’s simply not the same world it was a few years ago.
    Re: “Buggy Whip Industry”


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