The following quote is from Pinterest’s Copyright Policy.
Pinterest respects the intellectual property rights of others and we expect people on Pinterest to do the same. It’s our policy—in appropriate circumstances and at our discretion—to disable or terminate the accounts of people who repeatedly infringe or are repeatedly charged with infringing copyrights or other intellectual property rights. https://policy.pinterest.com/en/copyright
However, given the way these things play out in real life, it appears to me that Pinterest do not really respect copyright.
When I put my digital photos in to be processed at the camera store, I have to tick a box that says I am the copyright holder of the images and their content. When I upload something to Pinterest, I do not have to tick any such box. Now, ticking a box doesn’t guarantee that people are telling the truth, but it does alert them to the fact that there may be an issue here. Having such a box would be one way of Pinterest showing that they may actually have some respect for copyright. It would alert people to the fact that copyright should be considered.
I see things all the time on Pinterest that are breaches of copyright, such charts that have been uploaded by people who do not hold the copyright in them.
There is no easy way to report these things.
I went looking for charts of a well-known cross stitch designer, who I am *pretty sure* will not have posted her charts on Pinterest herself. Unfortunately, it was easy to find some.
Near the top of the page, there are three small dots. By clicking on them, you’re given the opportunity to report the pin.
So I chose that option, and these are the options that were presented.
There is no option there to report a pin for copyright breaches. None at all. I cannot do it.
Back to the Pinterest copyright policy again, and it says this:
If you’re a copyright owner or authorized to act on behalf of one, you can report alleged copyright infringements on Pinterest by completing the DMCA Notice of Alleged Infringement and sending it to our designated copyright agent. https://policy.pinterest.com/en/copyright
I’m not the copyright holder or their agent, so therefore how do I know that it has been pinned without their permission? Well, apart from the fact that it is fairly obvious that it hasn’t been posted with their permission, I can’t know that, and nor can I prove it.
So the only people who can report breaches of copyright are the owner of the copyright and their agents. Look, I realise there will be a good legal reason for this. However, can’t we have some way of letting Pinterest know that there is a potential problem with some of their content?
If we were able to flag, “There may be a copyright breach with this content”, then Pinterest could have some idea of the magnitude of the problem. And quite frankly, my feeling is that it seems they’re happy to have their heads in the sand on that one. I wonder if this is really their intention?
So, until Pinterest provides a way, for concerned citizens who care more about copyright than they appear to, to flag potential copyright breaches, the only way to deal with this aspect of the problem, for now, is to alert the copyright holder.
My email address, for those who wish to know it, is yvette at vetty creations dot com dot au (remove the spaces and change the words to symbols where appropriate).
I have spent many hours reporting breaches of my copyright. I could probably make it my full time job. That wouldn’t leave me much time for actually writing my books, though, would it?
Thank you to all of you who use Pinterest in a way that respects the rights of others.
In my next blog post I’ll talk about safe and useful ways to use Pinterest. It is a good tool, after all!
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Note: I’m not a lawyer, and I think that will be quite obvious from what I’ve written here. Do not take this to be legal advice.
When I click on Report Pin, I’m given the option of My Intellectual Property. I’m in the US, so maybe that’s the difference. However, as you indicated, I can’t report something that doesn’t belong to me. In some cases, especially if I know the designer, I will make them aware so they may report it. But again, as you mentioned, it can become an overwhelming task. It has driven a number of needlework designers out of business.
Thanks Darla, that is so interesting that you get that option! I would say, too, that the difference is because of the different jurisdictions. Thank you for the way you help designers.
A friend of mine used to own “The Gift of Stitching” magazine, which many people loved. She went out of business due to illegal “sharing”.
I wish people could understand that there are lives and bank balances that their simple actions can affect. It’s not *just* a chart.
Interesting read.
This is precisely why, after one bad experience, that I have never ever again put any of my designs on Pinterest. Copyright laws are supposed to be protection for a designer but unfortunately this is not so. And the problem is bigger than just the Pinterest world.
I’m sorry you had a bad experience, Linda. And yes, the problem is definitely bigger than the Pinterest world. That’s just what I’ve chosen to focus on here.