Caution: You're risking getting sued by using Pinterest...

Yeah, I love pinning things on my boards. My dream home, my favorite clothes, cute kid pictures or whatever makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. However, I am not fond of being sued and that is exactly what you’re putting yourself at risk of happening should you keep on pinning.

A woman named Kristen who is a lawyer and a photographer decided to read the terms of service (because the rest of us don’t) and what she read scared her enough to delete all of her pinterest boards.

She was seeing a lot of complaints from photographers on Facebook and wondered why Facebook could get sued for copyright infringement and Pinterest couldn’t. That is what prompted her to read the TOS on Pinterest. It states that the user is responsible for what they pin and have rights to publish all photos they pin and if Pinterest were ever sued, the user (you and I) are soley  responsible for what they pin and repin.

Copyrighted work can only be used without permission when someone is criticizing  it, commenting on it, reporting on it, teaching about it, or conducting  research.  Repinning doesn’t fall under any of those categories.

Pinterest writes in all capital letters within its TOS:

“YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE  ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SITE, APPLICATION,  SERVICES AND SITE CONTENT REMAINS WITH YOU.”

What’s more, Pinterest places all blame and potential legal fees on its  users.  It writes:

“You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold Cold Brew Labs, its officers,  directors, employees and agents, harmless from and against any claims,  liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including, without limitation,  reasonable legal and accounting fees, arising out of or in any way connected  with (i) your access to or use of the Site, Application, Services or Site  Content, (ii) your Member Content, or (iii) your violation of these Terms.”

Basically, if a photographer sues you for pinning an image illegally on  Pinterest, the user must not only pay for his or her lawyer, they must also pay  for Pinterest’s lawyer.  In addition, the defendant must pay all charges  against him or herself, along with all of Pinterest’s charges.

So, I gotta go. I have to delete my Pinterest account

Related articles

• More on Pinterest and copyright (technollama.co.uk)
• Why I Just Deleted All My Pinboards From Pinterest – Hint…It’s Their Terms Of Use (socmedsean.com)
• Pinterest: We’re not going to be sued into oblivion, and here’s why (nextlevelofnews.com)

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