What is Pinterest?
If you are not familiar with Pinterest, it is an online bulletin board where users can post pictures of things that interest them. There are two ways to "add a pin." The first is to upload a picture from your computer. The second, and most common, is to paste a link from a website and then choose from the images that are offered. I can tell you from personal experience that not only is Pinterest a lot of fun, it is addicting! I have to be very strict with myself otherwise I'd waste way too much time searching and pinning. :)
Pinterest is also a very fast growing social media site. According to the article, written by Mary Ann L. Wymore, "Pinterest is now the third most popular social networking site behind Facebook and Twitter" and "Pinterest now boasts more than 20 million users, of whom 64 percent are aged 35 or older and roughly 80 percent of whom are women."
The issue with copyright law.
Wymore describes it this way, "Although the concept of online sharing seems magnanimous, it is not without legal implications, particularly related to ownership and infringement of intellectual property...A Pinterest user can post or pin his or her own or anyone else's material, including copyrighted or copyrightable material."
This means that when someone shares something on Pinterest, or other social networking site for that matter, he/she can unwittingly be violating copyright law. Why? Because, as Wymore indicates, "If the social media user is not the copyright holder, therefore, he or she infringes the copyright in the work by reproducing, distributing, or publicly displaying the copyrighted material on a social media website."
Fair Use.
Wymore lists a few ways to avoid copyright infringment but most of the article is devoted to fair use. She explains, "'The Fair Use Doctrine permits the use or reproduction of copyrighted
materials “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or
research.'”She goes in detail about each of the four factors involved with complying with fair use, which is beyond the scope of this post, so I highly encourage you to read the article for the full breakdown of her points.
Protecting your self.
The best way to protect yourself is to only share material that you own the copyright materal. There are, however, other ways for avoiding infringement.
One thing, as Wymore mentions, is to get permission of the of copyright holder. If that is not possible, "With respect to permission, another avenue to explore for authorization is the terms and conditions of the various sites on which the copyrighted material is found," writes Wymore. Lots of sites, like Flickr, have copywrite holders who are willing to allow use of their material with attribution.
This brings me to another way to protect yourself: atribution, atribution, atribution. In my mind, copywrite infringement is similar to plagarism. I would never do a college term paper, or other writing, without acknowledging and citing the source of another's work, and I trust neither would you. Therefore, when you post an image or link on Pinterest (or other social media site), make sure there is a link back to the source. Pinterest posts a link where the pin comes from automatically when you pin something; however, for extra measure, I almost always mention the owner of the image I pin and link to the source in the description field.
Conclusion
I love how Wymore concludes her article: "Social media has become part of the fabric of our culture and is very likely here to stay. With a bit of careful thought and an ounce of caution, there is no need to shy away from it whether you are pinning, posting, tweeting, or liking for fun or to promote your business." She is so right. There is no reason to not post or share or pin. Just do so mindfully and wisely.
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Work Cited
Wymore, Mary Ann L. "Social Media and Fair Use: Pinterest as a Case Study." Bloomberg BNA. Bloomberg BNA, 14 Aug. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://www.bna.com/social-media-and-fair-use-pinterest-as-a-case-study-by-mary-ann-l-wymore-greensfelder-hemker-gale/>.
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Copyright Image in public domain
Pinterest home page image grabbed with snipping tool
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