Using Pinterest without Committing Copyright Infringement

            Pinterest is a platform that is gaining popularity like Facebook and Twitter did a few years ago.  Its users report an addiction stronger than Starbucks coffee.  Pinterest invites users to find images that other people have posted on the web and add them to the Pinterest user’s virtual pin board.  It has the potential to drive tremendous traffic to business websites and to help them sell products and services, but most of the images selected by each Pinterest user are “owned” by someone else under U.S. Copyright Law, presenting many pitfalls to be sued for copyright infringement.

            Copyright law in the United States protects all original content from the moment of creation for the life of the author plus 70 years, whether or not it is registered with the Copyright Office and whether or not it bears the copyright symbol of ©.  The copyright laws give exclusive rights to the author to publish, distribute, and make derivative works of the original work of authorship.

            Many people think that giving attribution to the original source is good enough, but attribution and permission are two different things.  How do you use Pinterest without committing copyright infringement?  Here are eight practical tips to minimize your exposure to claims of copyright infringement:

1.      Use your own content.  By using your own content, such as photographs that you personally take, you minimize the risk of copyright infringement.  (There is still a risk of copyright infringement if, for example, you photograph then pin an entire poem that belongs to someone else.)  The trade-off of using your own material on Pinterest is that you are giving Pinterest a “non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use, display, reproduce, re-pin, modify . . . , rearrange and distribute” your content, according to its updated Terms of Service.  By pinning it on Pinterest, you give up your exclusive rights to that work whenever you pin it on Pinterest.

2.      Get permission.  The surest way to avoid claims of copyright infringement is to get permission from the owner of the work that you wish to pin.  Get it in writing.

3.      Use the “pin it” button.  If a content owner encourages users to share their material with the Pinterest “pin it” button, arguably the content owner is giving you an implied license to pin it.

4.      Give attribution.  Whenever you pin something that belongs to someone else, be sure to attribute the original source.  This will not protect you from a claim of copyright infringement if you’re lacking actual permission, but it may minimize your exposure.  A further tip:  don’t just upload directly from Google Images.  When you do that, Pinterest gives the attribution to you by stating “uploaded by user,” rather than giving it to the original source.

5.      Pin products rather than art.  This is based more on common sense than the law, but businesses selling products presumably want to get the word out about their products and appreciate the free word of mouth publicity you’re generating on their behalf.  Some artists appreciate you pinning their work, too, but many artists make money selling or licensing original works, and would argue that you’re driving down the value of their work.  (Caveat: some brand owners may assert claims of trademark infringement if you use their marks without permission.)

6.      Limit your pinning to repining.  When you re-pin material that has already been pinned on someone else’s board, you arguably have the protection of Pinterest’s Terms of Service, which explain that no one should pin anything on Pinterest unless they have the right to do so.  Thus, if ever sued for copyright infringement, you could argue that you had a good faith belief, based on Pinterest’s Terms of Service, that any material you re-pinned was originally posted on Pinterest by someone who had rights to put it there.

7.      Be careful when pinning for profit.  A defense many people point to when sued for copyright infringement is the Fair Use Doctrine, which looks at four factors, one of which is the nature of the copying, and whether it is commercial (meaning, for money) or not.  It is harder to successfully argue fair use when the copying is done for profit than for a hobby or educational purposes.

8.      Pin less than an entire image.  Back to the Fair Use Doctrine: it’s harder to succeed with this defense when you’ve copied the entire image of a work belonging to someone else.  Consider copying only a small portion of the image instead.

            Using Pinterest is a lot like riding in a car.  In a car, you can use a seat belt, turn on your lights, and pay attention to the road to avoid accidents, but you can still be hit.  These are some tips to help you minimize the risk of being sued for copyright infringement when using Pinterest.  The smarter you are, the lower your risk; the more aggressive you are, the higher your risk. 

            Businesses have a lot to gain by using Pinterest, mainly driving traffic to their websites and building brand identity, loyalty, and interaction with customers.  To help protect your business from exposure to lawsuits when using Pinterest, consult a qualified intellectual property lawyer who can tailor advice to your unique situation.  The above tips are not intended as legal advice.

Using Technology to Tap into New Sources of Revenue: Highlights of Technology Panel at Bone McAllester Norton

Recently my law firm hosted a panel on technology.  It was a packed audience, and more guests showed up than rsvp’d, showing us that this was a topic that people really want to know more about.  Usually law firms invite clients and friends to hear about risks or changes in the law.  This event was all about business opportunity.

Since the beginning of 2011, I’ve given 1-2 speeches a month on the legal issues involved in using social media.  These talks typically have revolved around social media as a marketing tool, but not necessarily linked directly with creating new revenue.  At our tech panel, we wanted to focus instead on how companies and individuals can use technology to create new streams of revenue.  How can they tap into new revenue sources by creating their own apps, games and contests?  And what is on the horizon that none of us has even contemplated?

We invited an expert panel, comprised of David Owens of Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management, Nicholas Holland, CEO and Founder of CentreSource, and two of our clients, Parker Polidor, CEO and Co-Founder of Cell Journalist and Carter Hopkins, CEO and Co-Founder of City Streak, LLC.  Our audience was made up of leaders of financial institutions, educational institutions, technology companies, start-ups, developers, and venture capital firms.  We asked our panel and our audience to focus on three things:  (1) using technology to create new revenue streams, (2) tapping into the growing technology sector here in Nashville, rather than shipping assignments out of state to Silicon Valley or Texas, and (3) using our panelists’ stories as inspiration.

David Owens kicked off the discussion by talking about how companies that develop technology these days are recruiting high school students and high school graduates rather than college graduates, because young people are so connected with technology these days.  He talked about how younger people are physically developing stronger hands, fingers and forearms as a result of constantly using Smartphones, and how marketing firms are beginning to place signs and advertisements at foot level and knee level in stores, rather than overhead, because our bodies are getting used to looking down at a hand-held device all day, rather than looking up.  These are just some of the physiological and physical changes that are taking place from an evolutionary perspective, based on our recent adoption of certain technological devices.

Nick Holland did a great job providing an overview of how businesses can tap into technology from a variety of perspectives and in order to accomplish multiple goals.  His company is one of the fastest growing technology companies in America, and its based right here in Nashville.  Already as a result of our panel, members of the audience have hired CentreSource to help them with their needs.  This is great for them, for CentreSource, and for Nashville.

Parker Polidor shared his company’s amazing story, which deserves far greater recognition in Nashville than it currently has.  Cell Journalist is one of the biggest connectors and providers of user-generated content (UGC), such as videos of the floods captured from the Northeast over the past few weeks on individuals’ cell phones, which they then upload to various local and national news stations across the country.  As a direct result of the panel that we hosted, Cell Journalist was approached by one of the nation’s largest media conglomerates and is in the process of negotiating additional work.

Finally, Carter Hopkins, who was the youngest person in the room, and had just graduated from college at SMU in May 2010, captivated the audience by telling his story of how he and his business partner invested just over $10,000 to start this company, which already has thousands of fans and followers on Twitter and Facebook.  His company is similar to a combination of The Amazing Race and Groupon, which lets its target audience of individuals in college and recent graduates go on scavenger hunts in urban locations around the country.  They hunt for prizes and the game is based on speed and skill.  They also realize that they are in a unique position to help companies promote their products and services by incorporating them into the scavenger hunt as clues.  One of my take-aways from the morning was a conversation after the event with one of the older attendees, who said how inspired she was by Carter’s presentation.  She said it got her wheels spinning and that she is already thinking about new ways she can incorporate similar concepts into her own app.

"Always On," Consumers Expect Businesses to Embrace Technology Even More

In this new iPhone world, where consumers can download an app at the press of a button, businesses must embrace technology or risk being left behind.  When I say embrace technology, I'm not talking about just having an Internet presence or just using social media for marketing.  I mean using technology to create new apps, tools or games that let you instantly connect and engage with your customers.


Brian X. Chen, a writer for Wired Magazine, was recently interviewed on NPR's Fresh Air from WHYY.  Here's a link to the story and the interview.  In the interview, he discussed his new book, Always On: How the iPhone Unlocked the Anything-Anytime-Anywhere Future -- and Locked Us In. 

From a business perspective, the most fascinating part of the book is Chen's comment on how consumers' expectations have changed in light of the way the iPhone lets them unlock worlds of knowledge in the swipe of their phone screen.  In an excerpt from his book, he writes: "The iPhone changed our standards for what we expect from technology, and as a result, businesses are being forced to give us more for our money. We don't want seven pieces of hardware to perform seven different tasks; we want a single gadget capable of doing anything-anytime-anywhere. Soon, manufacturers will no longer be able to sell single-function gadgets lacking an internet connection because those gadgets will soon be obsolete. Consequently, a large number of companies and industries find themselves threatened because a downloadable app can easily replace nearly any dedicated, single-use product."

How is your business using technology to satisfy consumer expectations?  What app could you develop to keep your customers engaged?  Are you thinking from the mindset of a customer who owns an iPhone, and who expects information immediately? No matter your industry -- entertainment, publishing, banking, technology, professional services, arts, health care, environmental -- customers want more from you, and they expect it in the form of instantly accessed technology.

The Next Tidal Wave in Social Media: Video, Apps, QR Codes and Location-based Software

Video, apps, QR Codes and LBS (for location based software, not pounds) are about to be the next tidal wave in social media. It's not that Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are losing any prominence (yet), but more and more businesses are waking up to see new ways to connect with their audiences. When law firms and banks (conservative by nature) start adding video to their home pages, you know something's catching on.

As these forms of social media become more popular, they raise new issues for the law to grapple with. Who owns the content? Did you get permission to include an image of that person or that song in your video? Have you informed your users that you plan to sell information about their visiting patterns whenever they view your site? Thoughts for businesses, legislatures and the courts to consider...

Griffin Technology Hosts WaterCooler

WaterCooler is a monthly networking event for "young" entrepreneurs.  (I take liberty with use of the word "young" since my co-founder and I are pushing 40, and since we'd like to stay involved for a while.  With that in mind, we include anyone in their 20s, 30s and 40s.)  We started this fun venture in September 2009 and highlight a different local business or expert each time.  Lately we've been enjoying the field trips, visiting Yazoo Brewery, Olive & Sinclair Chocolate Co., and (coming up on April 18) Corsair Distillery.  It's a casual way to meet others who are active in the business, cultural and philanthropic worlds of Nashville.  Hopefully connections will be made at WaterCooler that spur new entrepreneurial and community collaborations.  If you'd like to be added to the list, email me at szralek@bonelaw.com.

Griffin Technology graciously hosted us on April 23.  Jackie Ballinger, its Marketing and PR guru, welcomed each guest and provided us with an incredible array of food and drink.  Also greeting guests as they arrived was this VW bus, which employees use for impromptu meetings, and which Griffin has traveled in for marketing at SXSW and Bonnaroo, to name a few:

Photo courtesy of Griffin Technology

Mark Rowan, Griffin's President, spoke about its background, its international reach and its commitment to Nashville. 

Photo courtesy of Griffin Technology

It was clear that Griffin is a dominant player in the global tech scene, and we're lucky to have it right here in our own backyard.

After, Jackie led us on a tour of their new work space.  We saw the wall of awesome accessory covers, the vending machine stocked with beer, and the work station decked out in action figures -- none of which is a regular feature where most of us work:

In the highest form of flattery (jealousy), everyone decided to ditch their current job and apply to work at Griffin. 

Here are some photos of the event:

Two Easy Ways Social Media Experts can Improve Philanthropy

Many people are ashamed of their birthdays, ashamed of growing older.  Not my mom -- she's lived a rich life and dedicated it to serving others.  We're having a birthday party for her soon, and 40 or 50 friends will be there to help her celebrate.  That's because she's given of herself and made deep connections in her community.  Happy birthday, Mom!  My mother,  my father and countless others are examples of how selfless acts of community involvement provide unbelievable personal returns. 

I had lunch yesterday with the Head of Cabedge himself, Chris Blanz.  (That's the best job title I've ever seen!)  We had a lot of fun and let a ton of ideas fly all around the room.  One of the best issues we discussed was: "How can social media experts/users get involved in the philanthropy of our city?"  Here's two easy ways:

1.  Use social media to spread the word about non-profits.  You do this all day every day about other topics, any way.  For many of you, social media is your job.  Find those non-profits in town that interest you, follow them, and help spread the word about their events and needs.  Big fundraiser coming up?  Think of how many extra people might attend all because you tweet about it.  Cool People Care has a great resource that lets you follow and friend your favorite non-profits.  Facebook has a Causes app to raise funds and awareness of your favorite charities, and SixDegrees.org lets you place donation links on your social networks that directs funds to the charity of your choice.  Easy stuff.  Big results.

2.  Join the board/volunteer your skills with a non-profit.  This is where face-to-face human interaction is invaluable.  Here in Nashville I'm on the board of an organization that I love, where the time I spend feels like sheer fun: Conexion Americas, which serves as a bridge between the recently arriving Latino community and the community of people who have been here a while.  Every non-profit needs help from social media experts to help build bridges to the people they serve and to funders, friends and decision-makers.  These boards need your expertise.  Choose one that interests you.  Don't have any experience on a board?  Then call the CEO and say you want to volunteer for a year.  I promise they'll plug you in.  If you're under 40, apply for the Young Leaders program, which trains you how to sit on a board.  Or contact Hands On Nashville, which offers similar classes.

It Takes only one Explitive in a Tweet to Lose your Job

Chysler did exactly what it should have done: immediately terminated its relationship with its social media agency New Media Strategies after the agency used the F-Bomb in a tweet on Chrysler's behalf.  Here's the tweet (with my redactions): "“I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f****** drive.”  Even more ironic is that Eminem (who cusses like a sailor) is Chrysler's new spokesman.  (Props to him for an awesome Superbowl ad!)  Still, this was not exactly the image Chrysler was going for. 

As reported in Automotive News, the social media agency immediately fired the employee.  And Chrysler is ending its relationship with the agency on account of the tweet.  No surprise here on either move. 

Michael Humphreys said it best in his Forbes blog: "Twitter is not a private room.  It's not a quiet corner in a public square.  It is THE public square."

Video of Recent Presentation on Legal Issues in Social Media

In late January, Indie Connect asked me to speak with professionals in the music industry about the pressing legal issues in social media.  It was an honor being with them.  They were kind enough to capture a video of the presentation, which you can watch here. 

If you'd like me to come speak about Social Media Law with your business or group, email me at szralek@bonelaw.com. 

Last week I spoke on social media legal issues to the Tennessee Bar Association.  Yesterday, the Nashville Business Journal selected me to be one of four panelists at an upcoming presentation on social media to the business community.  And in late March, I'll be co-presenting with Taylor Vick of Point3 Media on the collaboration needed in social media between legal and marketing; we'll be at PodCamp in Nashville.  Our title is "Kill All the Lawyers: Marketing through Social Media the Legal Way."  Sign up to attend -- it's free, and there will be incredible sessions on social media all day long.

Olive and Sinclair's Experience: Secrets to Success for Any Business

On January 31, 2011, I sat down to talk with Scott Witherow, owner of Olive and Sinclair Chocolate Co. , which makes the South's best chocolate. 

Olive & Sinclair's Exclusive with Williams-Sonoma

Later that night, he hosted WaterCooler, a monthly networking event for young entrepreneurs that some friends and I co-founded in August 2009.  We had a jam-packed crowd of over 40 people.  Everyone, it seems, wants to learn more about this company.  (For another great write-up on the tasting, check out the recent post on Nashville Foodies' blog, or see Gwyneth Paltrow's blog "Goop," which highlighted O&S.) 

Begun just 13 months ago in September 2009, Olive and Sinclair’s growth has been as viral as a posting on Facebook or Twitter.  O&S has already gained an exclusive contract with Williams-Sonoma for some of its products, and the demand for its chocolate grows every day.

We met after work at the office of O&S, which doubles as factory, research and design center, marketing headquarters, and nerve-center for all things chocolate in Nashville.  Before everyone from WaterCooler arrived, Scott offered me a sneak-preview sample of an upcoming chocolate he plans to launch in the coming weeks, something he’s collaborating on with Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams.  To top it off, he offered me the perfect pairing of a  Terrapin Moo Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout, which also has O&S chocolate in it.  Talk about a rich combination.  This was better than any of the after-school snacks I ate as a kid!

Here’s my take-away from talking with Scott, and what I think are some of the biggest secrets of his success. To be honest, I think these are some of the best keys to any modern business’s prosperity:

1. Authenticity: Olive & Sinclair offers an authentic story and product.

2. Collaboration: O&S collaborates with Terrapin, Drew’s Brews, Williams Sonoma, Bongo Java, and even non-profits like Saddle Up.

3. Embracing Social Media: Scott told me they couldn’t have had this massive growth and success without using social media. Only a 13 month old company, O&S has already grown to over 500 retail and wholesale customers.

O&S Red Hot Hearts for Valentine's Day

Here’s the best parts of my conversation with Scott:
Zralek: Thank you for the Terrapin Moo Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout…awesome! You were saying that social media has without questions helped your business…tell me how.

Witherow: Obviously it allows us to communicate with anybody out there that’s interested in Oliver & Sinclair. But because we’ve also been blessed with some pretty ridiculous—in a good way—articles. It’s allowed for people to actually kind of let us have a face. We were doing a lot more on Facebook and blogging before we ever even had a website. So that was a big part of it.

ZRALEK: Part of what I find in my work representing businesses as a lawyer is that, when people who are older than us (both in our 30s) are running companies, they often question the value of social media.

WITHEROW: Yeah.

ZRALEK: And to me, companies like yours are a prime example of how social media can help fuel the explosive growth you’ve experienced.

WITHEROW: I think for me and the company, I think that we all just believe in this product. We’re not…we don’t necessarily get into chocolate as like a monetary thing, you know, to make like a bazillion dollars. So it started off with just kind of loving the idea of being able to make chocolate. And then for me it was—I want to make chocolate personable and…I don’t know what this sounds like. But I think that we were successful in making it approachable and, again I don’t mean it arrogantly, but I think we do make a good product, and I think that social media is hugely important as long as you have a good product.

ZRALEK: I agree.

WITHEROW: But I think…

ZRALEK: If you’ve got nothing behind it, it doesn’t matter.

WITHEROW: Yeah, if it’s all this kind of chutes and ladders then you’re only going to go so far with it. But I think that—it’s been great even getting feedback, good and bad. I mean there have been people that have shot me a message on Facebook saying something was up or they noticed something and, like we had one customer who got a chocolate bar that wasn’t up to their standards of what they thought O&S was. And so she Facebooked me and, with the a batch number that we include on every bar, we found out where she bought it. It was poor product placement and it was such an old bar…I mean such an old bar that it shouldn’t have been on the shelf. So we had to go in and make sure that they were off the shelf and that our batch numbers are—they’re done for a reason. So that’s a great part to me.

ZRALEK: So this beer that you’re letting me taste, what’s the best chocolate that goes with it?

WITHEROW: [Handing me a sample of an upcoming release where O&S is collaborating with Benton’s Hams.] It will be a little while before it’s out.

ZRALEK: So what is that that I just tasted?

WITHEROW: It’s a smoked nib.

ZRALEK: From Benton’s Farm…they’re teaming with you?

WITHEROW: Yeah, we’re kind of teaming up for a little project. Hopefully we’ll see it through.

ZRALEK: And what’s that made of…it’s so good. Is there some bacon in there?

WITHEROW: No, [it’s just] nibs [that] are smoked by Alan down in Madisonville.

ZRALEK: So it’s more of the smoked flavor than the bacon.

WITHEROW: Yeah, there is no bacon in there really because it’s just…it’s Alan good quality smoked [flavor]…

ZRALEK: Wow it tastes good. . . .

Tasting of Various O&S Chocolate

ZRALEK: [W]hen did you decide to start this [company]?

WITHEROW: That was somewhere 2008 sometime, I think.

ZRALEK: What were you doing before Oliver & Sinclair?

WITHEROW: Just working in kitchens here in town. At the time I was a pastry chef at F. Scott’s.

ZRALEK: I didn’t know that.

WITHEROW: Yeah, I was there for about three years

ZRALEK: Did you go to culinary school somewhere?

WITHEROW: Yeah I went to Le Cordon Bleu.

ZRALEK: So you don’t recommend just anybody deciding to start their own chocolate shop? Having a little training comes in handy?

WITHEROW: Yeah but I didn’t learn how to make chocolate in culinary school. They didn’t guarantee me that. It’s more of working with chocolate. And I always try telling people it’s kind of like people that really like craft beers tend to start home brewing at some point. And I worked a lot with chocolate so I learned how to make my own chocolate. And I just started doing it.

ZRALEK: Where did you sell to first? Who was your first buyer?

WITHEROW: Mitchell’s Deli.  [Mitchell’s, the best deli in Nashville, is literally upstairs from Olive and Sinclair.]

ZRALEK: Are you selling primarily in Middle Tennessee?

WITHEROW: No, we’re nationwide and in Canada.

ZRALEK: So you started in ’08, it’s now January 2011…

WITHEROW: Well, I say we started in ’08. I started experimenting in ’08 and making test batches.

ZRALEK: So when was your first sale?

WITHEROW: September of 2009.

ZRALEK: Wow. You’re a young company.

WITHEROW: Yeah. We’re a year and three months.

ZRALEK: That’s great. . . .

ZRALEK: [O]bviously you wear a lot of hats. I assume that you [serve as] creative director, HR director, CEO, chief culinary designer and are you also making house calls to these places or do you send somebody else out there for you?

WITHEROW: We don’t call on anybody. We don’t approach someone in hopes that they’ll sell our chocolate. Maybe the first two months some of that went on, maybe three, probably two. But we really tried to slow down after that. We did some here and there during brief interims where we kind of thought it was getting quiet and you start to get kind of nervous as a new company or whatever. And you think well we need to pick up the phone and start cold-calling. But I think that we’ve all really found that just holding tight and just getting the product out there and in other ways. Yeah, that’s kind of how we do it.

ZRALEK: Let me ask you who you’ve teamed up with in terms of making chocolate. So you’ve teamed up with Benton’s Hams.

WITHEROW: Yeah, with Alan. And that’s a new something.

ZRALEK: So that’s on its way. Who else have you teamed up with if anybody?

WITHEROW: Well we teamed up with Terrapin, you know, for the Moo Hoo. And we look at all the local guys. I called the Yazoo boys [Linus Hall and his team] and made sure that [they didn’t mind] cause they’re the home team, so…
ZRALEK: Have you done anything with a coffee company yet?

WITHEROW: Yeah, we do stuff with Bob Bernstein [at Bongo Java]  in our normal coffee line. And then we do a line that’s exclusively at Williams-Sonoma [and one] that we do with my buddy Drew [of Drew’s Brew’s].  And it’s a totally different chocolate and a totally different roasted coffee. So it’s kind of a new interpretation of that.

ZRALEK: Okay, one last question…

WITHEROW: Yazoo as well. I gotta say we have teamed up with Yazoo…

ZRALEK: …and you’re drinking Yazoo as we’re talking.

WITHEROW: Yeah.

ZRALEK: So a good loyal follower.

WITHEROW: Yeah, I’m a big fan.

ZRALEK: Who do you see as your main competitor and who do you see—that’s probably a bad term—but who do you see as…is there any other chocolatier in the US that you think does a really good job like you do?

WITHEROW: I don’t want to look at them as competition. I guess in a way I kind of have to. But…

ZRALEK: Who else is a local chocolatier that you like?

WITHEROW: Well, just to…we’re not really chocolatiers. We don’t make truffles, we don’t…

ZRALEK: Chocolate company…what’s the right word?

WITHEROW: We’re chocolate makers. We import beans [then roast them and temper them].

ZRALEK: So who else does it like you do?

WITHEROW: Nobody in Tennessee.

Imported Cocoa Beans at O&S

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Copyright Stephen J. Zralek 2011 ©. All Rights Reserved.