Pinterviews

Sort of surprised at all the (P)interest in Pinterest, or at least in the copyright issues surrounding it.

I was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about the use of non-user generated content posted as UGC on the site. That is, taking someone else’s images and pinning them to the Pinterest user’s on pinboard.

The first thing I told the Journal is that there's a decent fair use argument here. There are many uses beyond straight commentary that deliver new meaning while still providing important social benefits (comparable to commentary or criticism) that the fair use doctrine aims to protect. The fair use doctrine has to remain flexible enough to recognize the complications of contemporary technology if it's to remain a true First Amendment safeguard. Maybe this requires amending the Copyright Act. Uh, certainly, this involves amending the Copyright Act.

Of course technology evolves so quickly that striving to have the Act keep up with it is a little like using a bicycle to chase a speeding Viper. I don’t care how good a cyclist you are, you’ll never catch up. (In homage to Roger Corman: Eat My Dust.)

The Wall Street Journal reporter took all that down, then called back and said: Just give me the dos and don'ts. Here’s a link to the article: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/03/13/dont-get-stuck-by-pinterest-lawyers-warn/?mod=WSJBlog.


Those comments, by-the-by, led to a radio interview on the same topic on the Victoria Taft Show. A link to that is right here: http://stationcaster.com/player_skinned.php?s=99&c=849&f=444791 .


Between those two pieces, I’ve said everything I have to about this issue. A far more interesting issue (or two), was noted by the esteemed scholar, Eric Goldman (who everyone should read if they don’t already).


Eric opined in a Facebook discussion yesterday that the two really interesting points about Pinterest are: “(1) it's a site that surely would never grow to maturity in a SOPA world as opposed to a DMCA 512(c) world because the copyright concerns would have taken it out without any 512(c)(3) takedown notices being filed, and (2) it came out of nowhere to become a major threat to Facebook, reminding us that the next wave of innovation is nowhere on our radar screen today, and locking in the existing competitive environment would be a huge mistake.”


Now that’s thinking! Those are by far the most interesting points I’ve heard about Pinterest. So pin that.


Jonathan Pink is an intellectual property attorney resident in the Los Angeles and Orange County offices of Bryan Cave, LLP. He can be reached at jonathan.pink@bryancave.com.