Will Pinterest be sued by photographers like Napster was sued by musicians?

October 13, 2011

A portion of the Babble.com blog post sharing my photo

Yesterday morning I got an email from a long time reader, Emma, who shared a link with me. When I clicked on it, it was about “18 Creative Family Poses” and sure thing, there I was! They’d included a photo from a recent family session where all the kids were jumping off chairs.

I posted the link on my FB page with the typical “geez they could’ve asked first” response but the discussion thread after that got me thinking…are us photographers stuck in the past? Do we have a bee in our bonnet about online sharing? And if so, are we prepared to lift said bonnet and tell the bee to get lost? Or does copyright still apply and if so, will sites like Pinterest be sued by photographers like Napster was sued by musicians?

Emma who originally emailed me the link said, “Isn’t this what thousands of people do on Pinterest every day? Use photos as inspiration?” Which begs the question…is Pinterest something that bothers photographers? I’ve seen so many of my photos ‘pinned’ which is flattering beyond belief, but sometimes when I want to pin a photographer and Pinterest asks me to select which of their photos I want to use, I kind of get this little voice asking, “are you sure this is ok? I thought we weren’t supposed to be doing this?”

There are many ways in which images can be shared and I suppose there are ways in which we can find justification for swiping someone’s photo for our own benefit. But when you think about it in relation to other forms of art, it suddenly doesn’t feel quite so ok. For example, yes people use photos on Pinterest for inspiration everyday, but does that mean that a musician should be burning their friend’s CDs because they use the music for inspiration? Shouldn’t they be buying it? Photography isn’t any different than music: it costs us money to produce it, we produce it to make money and there are copyright laws protecting it.

So you see, the lines can be so blurred that it’s almost impossible to tell where sharing turns into stealing.

P160410_16.262 As you can see from the photo which was used on Babble.com, I don’t usually do huge watermarking. And as you can see here –> , watermarking never helped me much when some Chinese company in Birmingham stole my images off Flickr and sold them to canvas dealers around the country. So I started thinking “why not just leave my images clean so people can enjoy them?” I guess I knew I was making myself a sitting duck.

So far, this is how far I’ve personally gotten in forming my own opinions about online sharing…

It’s ok when…

It appropriately links back to me
It is used for inspiration purposes
It is shown in a positive light and not offensive
It adds to my brand and doesn’t detract

It’s not ok when…

It is generating money for someone else (but the aforementioned blog is making money through advertising, so indirectly, the photos used were contributing to their money making without it being passed onto the photographers who took them)
It’s plagiarism. No one should ever be taking credit for your work.
It is a client who should be purchasing their photos (another grey area…a photography website who you have no relationship with can use your photos, but your client who you DO have a relationship with can’t?)
It is used in marketing material where it should have been purchased as stock imagery (yet another conflict because everything out there is making money for someone. Even Pinterest.)

So you see, when I think I’ve got it all figured out, I end up back at square one because of all those grey areas. At the moment, I guess I’m taking it on an individual situation basis because that’s all I can do with so many uncertainties about where I stand as a photographer in this world where someone can share my work in a nanosecond. I do feel really blessed as a blogger (blogtographer?) that I have such a huge community around me who know my work and let me know where they’ve seen it. So in a way, online sharing has contributed positively because people see my work, know it well and then when they see it stolen on a canvas, they tell me!

So some ways you can protect yourself from exploitation are:

Don’t ever post images online.
Watermarking. But not in the corner. Straight through the middle. Kind takes the joy out of sharing, doesn’t it?
Uploading web-ready versions. On FB now, there’s a ‘download’ button on images where you can literally download the original into your computer. Don’t upload high res files.
Take a chill pill and enjoy your life. If you can’t beat em, join em!

Now I have a headache…tell me what YOU think!

Note: I’ve just checked and seen that I’ve had 9,000+ visits this month just from Pinterest links. Definitely a reason we may want to rethink how we feel about the newer brands of online sharing of our work.

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Amandatacieink

I agree with you on the when it is ok and when it is not. My main thing would be is someone stealing the photos and saying they are their own, is someone making money off my photos (ie selling it, selling the article they are using it in…) but in general isn’t that why we follow other photographers is to get inspiration and or pin/like something because it is generally awesome! As long as credit is given and done in a good light I say go for it! Yes it is nice to ask and our parents told us it is nice to share! ;) You are so right about the gray area it is so hard for me in general it just kills me when people steal and say they own/took the picture as their own major NO NO!
Kerri

There is a book called Survival Guide for Photographers (I think) all about copyright laws and how easy & important it is to register your images. That way when you decide someone has crossed the line, regardless of whether or not you slapped on a watermark, you can sue their pants off (ie the canvas product or if your image was on a billboard, etc.) You can also sit back and let your images be shared on Pinterest or anywhere it doesn’t bother you, take that “chill pill” if you want, but register FIRST otherwise your lawsuit can’t include lawyers fees and other damages. That’s the gist of it.
P.S. Watermarking does not equal copyright
P.P.S. Copyright mark is not required in the U.S. and other countries that signed some treaty…
Anonymous

oh that’s great advice, Kerri!
Anonymous

As well as low-res, another way to combat it is to post your images as a group of images (you know, in a layout), so that it’s not ever an individual image getting pinned, it’s a collage and therefore harder for anyone to do anything with it, wihout going to all the trouble of cropping each photo individually. And by the time they’ve done that from a low-ish res image, they’re going to have something even lower in res.
http://twitter.com/Shondra_W Shondra Walker

I basically agree with you. If we are going to share photos online, then we should be prepared for them to be passed around the internet. It really is a compliment if someone wants to pin your image to their board. Like you said, they cross the line when they claim the photo as their work or if they make money off of it. Low-res images are the best way to combat thievery.

I do wish that pinterest would not allow images to be pinned without including the original source of the image. Some images are simply images that have been found through google images and, when clicked on, do not include the original source. That irks me a bit.
CLA

Didn’t you do something similar when you posted this picture (http://www.flickr.com/photos/heleens/6227215357/) on your facebook page?
I personally believe that as soon as you post anything on the internet, you pretty much loose control over the distribution of your work. As long as it is informational/inspirational posts and you get the proper credit/link back/… to your page, I guess it’s just something we’ll all have to live with from now on.
Anonymous

No, i didn’t post that photo, I posted a link to her Flickr page. Facebook chooses the preview image.
CLA

OK fair enough, but isn’t that the very same thing pinterest does, showing previews and linking back?
Anonymous

well maybe facebook will get sued too :)
A Belle Abroad

I understand why you would be upset. You’ve worked really hard to learn your craft and develop a style and then you’ve worked really hard to refine those things. I guess I’m a little confused as to what exactly is upsetting you. Is it that they used a specific photograph and didn’t ask? Or is it that they’re pushing the idea in the photograph (i.e. jumping)? If it’s the former, OK. They really should’ve asked. If it’s the latter, well, I’ve seen a ton of photographs from a ton of different photographers with people jumping. The shot is practically standard now in the wedding industry. So I don’t believe that one can really plagiarize an action or the idea of photographing that action.

I don’t think it’s really fair to compare work that you share online for free consumption to basically stealing music that was never intended to be free. I don’t think that you can compare Pinterest to Napster for the same reasons. I think a better comparison would be if your blog was subscriber only and you charged a small fee for people to read its content. And that might be the answer if you want to protect your creative ideas. The draw back to that, of course, is that you will lose readership and possibly clients. Now, I think that you’re so awesome that if you wanted to do that, I would actually pay to read what you have to say. :-)

In another life, I was a classical musician and musicians and painters, all artists, really, take some of their teacher/s ideas with them into their own work. I’ve never met you, but you are one of my teachers. Part of this blog is sharing your knowledge. I read your blog because I learn from you and are inspired by your work. It’s only natural that part of whatever foundations I have as a photographer going forward will be built by you. I’m a baby hobby photographer right now, but I have big dreams. And one day, if I am very very lucky, you might stumble across one of my photographs and maybe think “I see a little of myself in this.” I sincerely hope that that makes you proud.
Kathy

She did not share her photos online for free consumption, she shares them to generate business/revenue. Just like a band will post a clip of music. A shared clip of music does not imply free use, correct? Just as that clip or small part of a larger piece is shared, low res photos are a smaller part of a larger piece of work and protected by the same copyright law.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1818494962 Matt Wilkinson

I am a hobby photographer. If someday I can make a little money on the side then all the better. I have a couple of dozen facebook feeds like yours Elizabeth, where I enjoy the advice, study the images, and am trying to look for something new to learn. Maybe it is just the way that I was raised, but I am appalled every time I read an article like this one about images being stolen, or used without proper permission. Like other artist, we have to protect ourselves from the start. Watermark, copyright, embed a cookie to track the images online (I can’t remember where I read about this, but you can do it), only post lo-res images/samples of our work, etc. It is sad, but a fact of the new digital age. I hope you don’t have to go to charging for your blog, I do enjoy it to much. Thank you for what you do share, it is amazing work.
Andrew Mills

No one (to the best of my knowledge) has nicked one of my photos, so I am still somewhat in the theoretical stage with this for myself. If and when someone does find one of my photos good enough to steal, my feelings may change.

I think it is OK for people just to “share” or to point out and say “hey, this is a cool photo” – as long as they credit the photographer. I feel this actually like free advertising, and hopefully would lead to sales.

I don’t agree with people using the image to decorate either their home or web site (without credit), or without at least asking for permission. And I certainly don’t agree with people using an image to blatantly sell something (as with Elizabeth’s case with the photo frame).

There’s no way you can get away with, as a photographer, not posting images online these days. The best thing is to not upload too high a resolution and to keep them to 72dpi.

Zack Arias commented on this not long ago somewhere in an interview, and he doesn’t worry about it, but did say he would go after people if and when he found them using the images inappropriately.
Makisphotography

Great article – it stopped to make me think what bothers me, what doesn’t bother me, etc as a photographer. On one hand it is a business, with a brand selling a specific product/service. Unlike actual products, services rely heavily on word of mouth and referrals – and sharing becomes advertisement and marketing that multinational corporations spend millions on – most of the time a large portion of their income. I’ve never used Pinterest – but if it doesn’t provide a linkback or credit then I think that’s something the company should address. I see most people just “share” on Fb and it automatically posts the original poster and the URL. I see some people just take the photos off the internet, post it on their wall and share it – when it’s clearly not their photograph :-/

On that note, there are online apps like TinEye and CopyScape to search the internet for any stolen content or images. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start. :)
Andrew Mills

I researched about copyrights some time ago for an article I wrote for dPS, but I bottled out and never sent it in (I could only imaging the pages of arguing and flaming from the armchair lawyers).

But anyway, yes, as far as I can remember in the US if you don’t register an image, you can still sue for copyright infringement, but you will only get damages for equal to the value to which the defendant has “used”. And possibly some legal fees. If you register images, then you can sue for much more.

In the UK, we don’t have to do this, although I believe you can register with third party companies so that if you ever need to, it can help prove that you are the originating author/artist.

Oh, and even though you don’t need a copyright notice as copyrights are applied automatically, “(C)” as a copyright notice isn’t legally valid – you have to use the “C in a circle” © symbol. On Windows, hold down the ALT key and type 0169 on the numerical keypad. IIRC, there is also a copyright symbol somewhere in Photoshop’s preset shapes.
Jamie Handy

I think we all need to sit back and think for a minute. In the “pre-internet” world if you were writing a research paper on photography and you went to the library and read a book on photography and then wrote a research paper you would add a footnote and put your source in the bibliography. You did not have to contact the author of the book to make sure you could quote them.

Today’s online publishing world works the same way. Once someone has “published” their work it is available to researchers (bloggers, writers, photographers) everywhere. Provided the researcher cites the source (like a bibliography) I think they are well within their legal right.

Watermarking helps to ensure that you, the source, are cited but it is not full proof. And yes — if YOU published it, your client can repost it. (provided they show their source)

If you don’t want to be used– THEN DO NOT PUBLISH YOUR WORK!
http://bigmariolife.blogspot.com Stephanie

I agree with your distinction of when it’s okay and when it’s not okay. If someone is taking the images and trying to pass them off as their own or using them for commercial purposes, it is definitely not okay. I think the big distinction between Pinterest and Napster that we need to keep in mind is, WE are putting our photos on the internet. WE are putting them out there for the world to see for various reasons – we’re proud of them, we want to increase our marketing, we want to inspire others and be inspired, etc. Whatever the motivation, the photos ended up online because WE chose to put them there. I think it would be a completely different story if we sold a print that had never been online, then the buyer scanned it, posted it, and let the world Pin away to their hearts’ content. From what I remember/understand, that’s basically what happened with Napster. It was other users sharing the music files, not the musicians themselves putting it out there. We own the copyright the moment the image is created (at least, that’s the law in the US). We put it out there to share with the world. If no one else is claiming it as their own or trying to profit off of it without our permission, they’re not really doing anything wrong.
Alicia Jones

I have a pinboard called “Photos I love and Photographers that inspire me” where I post photos I love from fellow photographers but I always make sure I link back to the original photographer’s blog or website and the title of the pinboard makes it clear they are not my own photos, I have separate pinboards for my own photos. They are posting it publicly on their blog so as long as you’re not making a profit from it or claiming it as y our own I don’t see a problem with it. On my blog I don’t watermark my images but I make very small files and then on facebook/google+/pinterest I watermark my images.
http://ashleysisk.blogspot.com Ashley.Sisk

I love pinterest for inspiration but I always link back to the original post. I want to know where that image came from. There again, I’m also a stickler for only loading web files. I post pretty large pictures, but they’re at 72dpi so they can only print so big.
http://www.KaseyLoftin.com KaseyLoftin

Great read. I use Pinterest a lot lately and I always give credit/link back. When it comes down to it, the only way to avoid it is to not post online. No matter what industry you are in, even outside of the arts, there are always going to be criminals trying to make a quick buck without any effort. I certainly don’t want anyone stealing my images and always post low-res, but my online presence is the #2 way I get new clients. So would I avoid posting online to avoid criminals? No. They are just going to steal from someone else. I’m not saying it’s ok, I just don’t see how anyone would ever win a lawsuit against Pinterest, singling them out. The whole idea behind social networks is sharing, they all do it and there are too many social networks to count.

Not sure how many of your are familiar with flash but if you make your image files into .swf files, you can embed links. It would be time consuming but it IS a work around that would ensure your images always link to your site and you can’t “right click and save to desktop” with .swf files. Most internet users wouldn’t be able to figure out how to disable that.
Felicity

I agree with your opinions about online sharing but not with your definition of Pinterest. In fact, I think you need to completely reframe your original question. In my mind the question is not how do you stop Pinterest using your images free of charge but rather is Pinterest a cheaper and more effective form of advertising than purchasing photography related Google adwords? Is it more effective than buying banner blocks on other people’s websites? Or an affiliate payment scheme? The reason I think these are the questions, is that I found you through someone’s pin on Pinterest. From that pin I discovered your blog, which I am now following. You can see the pin I have in the screen shot image below. Is it the kids jumping shot? Nope, it’s your product that you sell. Friends of mine repined and are now considering purchasing this very guide off you. Am I using your image? Yes I am, I am using it to find you, and to share and promote your services. It is not providing ripped downloadable copies of your ebooks but it is providing the links back to you to purchase them.
Pinterest to me seems to combine a couple of different things. It is a visual bookmarking service – and like it or not, visual bookmarking services are here to stay. Pinterest is Delicious with the emphasis on the pictures instead of the text. In the past people might have found your blog and bookmarked it in their folder of ”inspiring photographs” now those collections are shared. If someone did pin your top photo of kids jumping on their “inspirations board” just for the sake of being inspired, they are not using the photo in the same kind of context as stock photography. And in fact it is far more useful to you to have their pin out there where others can find it and through it your site. So it is also social media where pins have the ability to go viral. Start comparing the number of retweets you have with the number of repins you have and then I think you need to be asking, how can I harness the power of Pinterest and run like the wind with it?
Anonymous

Great comment Felicity thank you!
Ana GR

Hi Elizabeth.
I have my Pinterest, and one board is photography websites that I admire. Yours is there. And I have another board with poses that I love. I think one of your photos is there too. But on Pinterest it is clear that they are not my photos, of course! And I think that everybody understands that I’m saying that I admire your photography. Perhaps I should have asked.
I think there’s a huge difference in saying you admire someone and stealing his or her art. And I think there should be an easier way to prosecute theft, may be creating a site to control and act against image theft.
The better you are, the more you are exposed; and you are darn good!
http://www.byrayleigh.com Rayleigh Leavitt

I haven’t used pintrest yet because I’m afraid it will be a total time sucker for me! LOL I have sort of my own pintrest, though. When I see an image on the internet that inspires me, I save it to my computer. And I look through them before I go on a shoot. Sometimes images from blogs are posted in a way that they can’t be saved. I don’t know how they do that and part of me wants to learn so I can do it on my own blog. But the other part of me gets annoyed because I wanted to save the image to use as inspiration and to help me learn and it feels almost rude of other photographers to not wish other photographers to want to learn from them. I never feel bad about saving photos from other photographers because I’m not posting them anywhere and I’m not claiming them to be my own. I’m not directly making any money from them, although it’s my hope that their inspiration will help me become a better photographer which will make me more money in the long run. I love it when people share my images, as long as there is a link back which doesn’t always happen. So I recently started watermarking my images so that potential clients would be able to find me if they like my work.
Ryegirl

I have a board on Pinterest called “Photo Inspiration”. It is just that … inspiration. Not theft, not passing something off as my own … just photos that make me want to explore techniques, poses and composition etc. I hadn’t for one moment thought that I was doing something that may be considered illegal/breaching copyright by the owner of the photographs. I believe for the greater part “pinners” are paying you a compliment by posting a picture (and linking back to you). Sadly there will always be one bad apple in the barrel but hopefully most of us are good apples!!!
Linzilulu

Thanks for the article! However, how is Pinterest any different from Google images? I go to Google a lot to find inspiration. Just like I go to Pinterest now to find inspiration. It’s pretty much the same concept. Almost every photograph I have on my Pinterest has a watermark on it, and almost every time I click on an image it takes me back to the source, it exposes me to that persons site and work. To me it is awesome advertisement! I would love to see my images floating around on Pinterest knowing that they inspired someone else, and knowing that it got my name and my work out there, and could potentially increase the traffic to my site. Just my opinion, thanks! :)
http://twitter.com/erinparker Erin Parker Skinner

You’ve hit the nail on the head here, Elizabeth. Unfortunately, as photographers, we will all have to deal with image sharing at some point in our careers, and I am with you in the instances where it’s OK (and not OK.) As far as what I’m doing about this? I’ll be only uploading web res images to FB and chilling out because watermarking the hell out of my images to ensure nobody takes them and uses them in the wrong context is too much for me. And I’d like to enjoy my life and time online without fretting.

Thanks for posting this!
Ryan

I was under the understanding that Pinterest was a way of sharing what you like with your friends. So if I like your blog, I pin it and my friends can then go visit it too. They make you choose a picture from the page in order to share the link. I think Pinterest’s presentation (the photos) certainly make the site more aesthetically pleasing. I don’t actually visit it that often though. I just pin things I want to remember for later reference. It seems more like free advertising to me than stealing.
Anonymous

Yes that’s definitely another way to feel about it. I prefer to think of it as advertising, personally but still a good topic to bring up for discussion.
The Blog Guidebook

Love all the questions you’ve asked about Pinterest. I’ve asked them too..and I don’t know the answers. It’s good to keep thinking. Would you mind if I mention you in a post about this? I’ll link back to your post. Cheers!
Anonymous

No of course, go for it!
Kristen Duke Photography

I have recently had a lot of new readers/traffic who have found me via pinterest. I am a photographer and it doesn’t bother me when my work gets “pinned” but its flattering. My files are low res and I put a watermark on the image, but not on the face or anything crazy like that. I figure anyone that knows how to use the tools in photoshop could edit it out if they want to. I do think it is interesting that my site and lots of others are “right click protected” but if my images are pinned, that is no longer the case. One can pin, then right click and save from the pin file. Def. blurred lines, I never thought about it being like napster…I know that when I post it online as a “sneak peek” for my clients that even if they don’t buy it, they will have that file to view it on my blog or if they figure out how to right click and save. I’m ok with that.
Kristen Duke Photography

P.S. One of my images was also in that post you mentioned…it was actually not an image that I took, but originally posted on my blog an links back to my blog;)
http://twitter.com/adaptivelearnin Beth Crumpler

I love Pinterest, but good points here and valid arguments. I use Pinterest mostly to visually bookmark educational lesson content I want to use to teach with. As a teacher, the visual bookmarks help me keep track of content better that I want to reference again from various websites that I want to use in my lesson planning. The visuals help give imagery for appropriate lesson planning and visualization on how the lesson will look. I Tweeted your post here because it’s good for people to read since so many people love Pinterest.
Micah Fortson

Hi, I just came across your blog while doing a google search to see if, out of curiosity, Pinterest had been sued yet. I know that google / amazon was sued for copyright infringement for its use of images on google image searches, but it prevailed based on the way the technology worked. Apparently because google only presented a link to the image and the browser then fetched and consolidated all the images from all the linked sites, google wasn’t actually copying. It was more like pointing at a bunch of websites at once. There seemed to be a caveat in the case where the judge considered the fact that they were primarily thumbnails and not full reproductions but didn’t consider that point heavily. I don’t know if Pinterest works the same way or not, but there may be more issue with the increased size and interactive functionality (being able to post and comment). I think your caution is warranted, it’s your copyright.
Angela Z

I found your site through pinterest. I applaud your calm, common sense attitude to the issue. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, skill, and inspiration with the world. I wish you all the best.
WryLilt

Nicely written! I’m writing an online article about this very topic, so I’ll link back to your post if that’s ok. =)
WryLilt

As said in my last comment, I wrote an article, and I’ve linked to this one from it. If you don’t want the link here, feel free to delete it, just thought I’d let you know where I linked to you from. =) Here is the link:
http://wizzley.com/are-you-breaching-copyright-when-using-pinterest/
http://www.facebook.com/sjlocke Sean Locke

Believing you are “paying a compliment” does not change the fact that you are violating the Pinterest agreement in that you do not own the rights or have permission to “pin” work to their site. And they facilitate that infringment by physically copying others’ work to their site. http://seanlockephotography.com/2012/01/26/pinterest-com-and-copyright/
http://www.facebook.com/sjlocke Sean Locke

Your opinion that infringment is ok because it provides good advertising is irrelevant. Providing free downloads of Star Wars would be great advertising for George Lucas’ work, but you don’t get to do that either.
http://twitter.com/mauiphotofest Maui Photo Festival

I am a member of a pro photographers forum with a pay wall and posed the question about Pinterest there. Since images pinned from the forum would have links that wouldn’t work when non-members clicked on them, I asked if anyone cared. My question was totally ignored, like it had never been asked, as they all talked back and forth about how great Pinterest was. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t think it ethical to share an image from the forum that won’t link back to the photographer, even if I do list a photo credit. But all in all those people didn’t care about their copyright being violated.
http://www.blogspotmastery.com/ kee

They should moderate sharing of photos depends on the preferred moderation by the Photographers.
Lisa

She may not have intended her work to be used for free but I would hope she would have familiarized herself with what she is doing by posting images to the web. There are several ways people could legally post her images elsewhere and avoid litigation. It happens everyday under fair use. Whether she was aware of that is irrelevant. It’s up to her to ensure she balances risk vs promotion.

A “clip” of music can actually be used free under many circumstances, such as sampling less than 10 seconds, or under fair use again, for critical reviews. I’m not going to go into much more detail here since you have Google as well, but do your homework before posting ANYTHING to the web. Even your comment you just wrote I could use without any fear of litigation, for critical reviews.
Gmooney

I think Many people are missing the point about Pinterest, and a number of other “SNS” programs. You really need to read their terms of use, The legal stuff we all click on but never read.

Check this out and read it! See what you are giving up and what Pinterest IS taking form you. I think it was the part where they can “sell” member content…

“Member Content
We may, in our sole discretion, permit Members to post, upload,
publish, submit or transmit Member Content. By making available any
Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby
grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual,
non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to
sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell,
transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream,
broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only
on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services. Cold Brew
Labs does not claim any ownership rights in any such Member Content and
nothing in these Terms will be deemed to restrict any rights that you
may have to use and exploit any such Member Content.

You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for all
Member Content that you make available through the Site, Application
and Services. Accordingly, you represent and warrant that: (i) you
either are the sole and exclusive owner of all Member Content that you
make available through the Site, Application and Services or you have
all rights, licenses, consents and releases that are necessary to grant
to Cold Brew Labs the rights in such Member Content, as contemplated
under these Terms; and (ii) neither the Member Content nor your posting,
uploading, publication, submission or transmittal of the Member Content
or Cold Brew Labs’ use of the Member Content (or any portion thereof)
on, through or by means of the Site, Application and the Services will
infringe, misappropriate or violate a third party’s patent, copyright,
trademark, trade secret, moral rights or other proprietary or
intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy, or
result in the violation of any applicable law or regulation.”
http://www.themusicbed.com/ The Music Bed

Excellent points! It’s the same thing with music: photographers and filmmakers sync music to their projects without proper licensing and musicians feel a similar gut reaction that they weren’t asked permission to have their work featured in a particular setting. It’s good to hear from the photographers perspective.
http://www.themusicbed.com
Cynthia

I’m struggling with the concept behind your comments. Is pinning someones photo to my inspiration board on Pinterest different than the thousands of tear sheets I used to collect and put into binders or pin on my office scrap board? I always make sure any photo I pin or repin clicks through to the original photographer. However the photographers names are not listed on most food, quotes, landscapes/cityscapes or clothing photos. So the real question is should we be pinning and repining portraiture?

Many photographers have a statement on their website that says the images should not be copied – and I believe these photographers could keep their images off Pinterest by adding a little code to their site. My question is who is the photographer talking to? His/her clients? well yes that makes good sense – you don’t want your clients to copy and print images you expect to sell – but most of us want our clients to post our watermarked images on social media sites because they have become a marketing tool – in fact many of us give our clients digital images and tag them in FB so they can do just that.

Is this DO NOT COPY admonition being addressed to other photographers. Most of us do not want printed copies for display in our studios or homes (that would be a clear violation of Copyright in my opinion). Photographers use the work of others as thought pieces and inspiration – just as scientists read scientific literature and reports to inform their work, and attorneys dig through law books to learn about decisions that have informed the law and artists (of all kinds) study the work of other artists – not to copy – but to learn and be inspired.

When someone pins something from your site – I would think you would be pleased as punch – not only is it a pat on the back but free advertising and unless you are expecting to resell the image as editorial copy ,stock or a fine art piece – you never expect to resell that image – it is not like movies or music that can be sold over and over again to a new audience. Our portrait images have a short shelf life.

So I just read all the other comments – and realize I am rehashing some of the same ideas that have already been presented. Good night.
Cynthia

Does anyone remember Stefanie Gordon who captured a photo of the Endeavor Shuttle from her seat on a Florida bound airplane? http://mashable.com/2011/05/17/space-shuttle-twitpic/

New companies and new ideas may make mistakes, but we are all trying to negotiate the waves of technology. We should remain vigilant but not afraid – looking forward not backwards.