How to PIN RESPONSIBLY?

Patricia Bee's heart sure is in the right place, tirelessly promoting "responsible pinning" with proper attribution and a link back to the original website - on her Pinterest page.

The misconception that accreditation of an image to the creator and a link to the creator's website absolves one from copyright infringement is so rampant that even people that cruisade in favor of respecting copyrights unwittingly disseminate it.

Class Action Lawsuit Against Google Images?

In Standing up against Google’s new Image Search and the copyright issues involved – Class action lawsuit, Mia McPherson writes:

I said I would be happy to take part in a Class Action suit against Google and due to a recent conversation with an attorney I realize that class action suit is entirely possible and I want to inform as many photographers as I can about it.

I had a very interesting conversation today with attorney William R. Restis of Finkelstein & Krinsk LLP that was very informative about the possibility of a class action law suit against Google with the focus being on the copyright issues that their new image search raises.

[...] Contact William R. Restis of Finkelstein & Krinsk LLP. This is the same firm that filed a class action law suit against Instagram in December of 2012 for their change in Terms of Service, a suit that forced Instagram to reconsider those changes to their TOS.

Email: wrr@classactionlaw.com

Pinterest's Ridiculously Ineffective Warnings.

At last, I found a reaction from someone receiving a copyright notice from Pinterest. Heidi Lyn Burke 's Burke can be summarized as "I'm curious whose picture it is, I can't figure it out, moving on!"

If they hadn't told me about it I wouldn't have even noticed . . . still, I wonder what exactly it was.

Another blogger, Duck Duck Cow dwells in irony, featuring a heavy copyright notice protecting her own blog:

Copyright Notice Copyright 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007. Every paragraph, sentence and split modifier on this blog is the sole property of the Cow, as the author, unless other credit is given. Any use or reproduction of this stuff without written consent of the author is strictly prohibited.

The blog features 4 images uploaded from Pinterest that credit the "pin" and link to it, rather than crediting the author directly, and linking to the original content.

That's for irony.

More reading: Copyright, terms of use and Pinterest by by Judy G. Russell

For references, below is a "strike" letter dated Feb 20:

“This is to let you know that we removed one (or more) of your Pins as a result of a copyright complaint. The complaint was not directed against you or your Pin. It was reported by ####### and directed against another user who Pinned or re-Pinned the same content from the following address: #########

While many copyright owners are happy to have their content Pinned on Pinterest, we recognize that some do not want their content to appear on Pinterest. Where, as here, a copyright owner notifies us that they want their content removed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), it is our policy to remove the allegedly infringing Pin, as well as all other Pins that contain the same content if the copyright owners so choses.

Again, this complaint was not directed at you, or anything you did. We just thought you’d like to know why we removed your Pin.

Happy Pinning and thanks again for using Pinterest.

The Pinterest Team
Pinterest DMCA #ID 0000000″

Lawyerly Tactics

The Copyright Zone reports on a trend in attorney's continuing education to offer classes aimed at defending clients against cases of copyright infringement. The second point is worth noting:

2. Send a letter saying “We have taken it down. Thanks for letting us know. Goodnight”. Never offer real money to a non-represented claimant. Few photographers hire lawyers. If you do hear from a lawyer then you can start paying real attention to the case.

Pinners will love point #5:

5. Always claim that since there was no copyright notice your client who is not a lawyer, “had no reason to know anything was wrong” and that “no malice was intended”.

The Seventh Most Influencial Person On Pinterest

According to Dailydot.com's Lauren Ray Creators Against Pinterest ranks #7 out of 10 most influencial persons on Pinterest.

...her protest shows just how new and unusual Pinterest’s platform is and how the site will have to overcome uncharted challenges if it wants to keep content creators happy.

Well hun it's never going to make me (or other content creators that exploit the distribution of their own work, a right granted under copyright law) happy unless the NOPIN tag becomes the default state, and that giving permissions to pin pictures is what requires action.

I hope to continue moving up the rank - especially now that even Google Images is emulating Pinterest's "pioneering" image copyright grab.

More On Google Images

Google has become the biggest image scraper of the Millennium is one of the best commentaries on the new Image search, do not miss it!

Google has made a serious mistake, they are looking at class action lawsuits being filed against their company. As a photographer and copyright holder I’d be happy to join any and all of those class action law suits against Google. The way I see it Google is crapping on our rights as artists, creators and photographers. And I am furious about it.

SIGN PETITION HERE

Pinterest Gets Worse

Check out Pinterest's own blog in We're Testing Out A New Look. With Bing and Google putting the squeeze on Pinterest's original monopoly of image copyright infringement with their own large-image display in image search, Pinterest is cornered into up'ing the ante:

Pins are bigger and we’ve added more information related to pins, so it’s easier to find things you’re interested in. For example, on each pin, you’ll see pins from the same board, other boards this pin was pinned to, and a whole slew of related pins.

That's right. Pinterest is planning to display even larger images than before, and showing a bunch of other thumbnails to the side, make themselves more "sticky" to the visitors and decrease potential visitor leakage to the creator's websites.

Worthwhile Reading

In FIVE Reasons It's Wrong To Seatl Other People's Content, Peg Fitzpatrick recounts her difficulties protecting her written word. Scroll down the article for some very well written and interesting comments. Below is a teaser that I hope will entice you to follow the link and read:

And what’s really amazing is how many of these thieves suggest they are doing you a favor by spreading your content! Um… NO! A close relative to this is when people exclaim “think of the exposure!” as they moonwalk backwards and away from paying for your talent and hard work [...]

Copyright law is very clear that the copyright holder has the exclusive right to decide how their work is distributed.