Fine Art America has made their feelings about Pinterest loud and clear! Very thought-provoking insight about the harm Pinterest can do to photographers/artists. Sean Broihier made no bones about their stance and got right to the point with this opening paragraph:
Pinterest is enabling copyright theft on a global scale and doing immeasurable damage to artists, photographers, and copyright holders all over the world.
If you’re a photographer/artist, I think you need to run over there and read the full article NOW: Pinterest Enables Copyright Theft On A Global Scale
He raised some concerns that I hadn’t even thought about yet, like search engine competition.
By the way, one thing that I did learn by reading this article –> Fine Art America recognizes that some photographer/artists have completely embraced pinning while others have not, so they’ve made accommodations for both sides. They allow pinning BUT you can disable it in your account if you’d like to do so.
I had resumed pinning after Pinterest finally changed their TOS. After reading this, will I continue pinning? I’m not sure. What are your thoughts?
Either way, I think I’m even more in love with Fine Art America than ever! <3
****************************************************
Over the past weeks, several artists and photographers have been concerned about Pinterest‘s TOS. In those terms, Pinterest claimed rights to sell any image pinned.
Naturally, many artists and photographers were upset with this issue. Some even deleted their pinboards as a result.
Pinterest just announced that they have changed their TOS. Here is the announcement from their blog:
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working on an update to our Terms. When we first launched Pinterest, we used a standard set of Terms. We think that the updated Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy are easier to understand and better reflect the direction our company is headed in the future. We’d encourage you to read these changes in their entirety, but we thought there were a few changes worth noting:
Our original Terms stated that by posting content to Pinterest you grant Pinterest the right for us to sell your content. Selling content was never our intention and we removed this from our updated Terms.
We updated our Acceptable Use Policy and we will not allow pins that explicitly encourage self-harm or self-abuse.
We released simpler tools for anyone to report alleged copyright or trademark infringements.
Finally, we added language that will pave the way for new features such as a Pinterest API and Private Pinboards.
We think these changes are important and we encourage you to review the new documents here. These Terms will go into effect for all users on April 6, 2012.
Like everything at Pinterest, these updates are a work in progress that we will continue to improve upon. We’re working hard to make Pinterest the best place for you to find inspiration from people who share your interests. We’ve gotten a lot of help from our community as we’ve crafted these Terms.
I have to look through their new TOS carefully. I’m still concerned about liability issues, but this is a welcome change and a step in the right direction.
What do you think? Are you going to continue or begin using Pinterest?
Links:
Pinterest Blog Post Announcement
Pinterest: Terms of Service
Pinterest: Acceptable Use Policy
Pinterest: Privacy Policy
***************************************************
CafePress has entered into an agreement to acquire one of its print-on-demand competitors, Logo’d Softwear, Inc, during the second quarter of 2012. Acquiring this 17-year old company will expand the CafePress production facilities into the state of Connecticut.
It appears that CafePress will purchase Logo’d for $8.3 million. Of that, $7.5 million will be in cash and $800,000 will be in shares of common stock.
Logo’d is the company behind the following brands:
1. LogoSportwear.com
2. TeamSportswear.com (a team uniform printer)
3. Custom School Sportswear (a school apparel site)
4. Custom T-Shirts Printed (a t-shirt print shop)
************************************
Need a custom photo gift? Then you need to check out the latest sale at CafePress!
Order by March 2, 2012 and get 30% off customized photo products* at CafePress with coupon code BLISS.
Here’s the fine print:
* Save 30% off your order of Make customized Photo products, excluding shipping charges, gift wrap charges and applicable sales tax. Excludes Gift Certificates, SIGG bottles, Thermos products and bulk orders. Coupon code BLISS must be entered at check out. Promotion starts on February 27, 2012 at 12:00 a.m. (PST) and ends on March 2nd, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. (PST). Offer cannot be combined with any other coupons or promotions and may change, be modified or cancelled at anytime without notice. This promotion cannot be applied to past orders.
Sale at CafePress: Use coupon code DASH to save on t-shirts.
Click link to shop –> CafePress
Sale ends February 29, 2012. See below for details:
*Combine coupon code DASH with already reduced prices on-site to receive additional savings off t-shirts. Discounted t-shirt prices are set forth on site. Coupon code saves an additional 20% off your t-shirt order from CafePress, excluding shipping charges, gift wrap charges, taxes and custom duties. Coupon code only applies to t-shirts. Excludes bulk orders. Must enter coupon code DASH at check out. Promotion starts on February 27, 2012, at 12:00 a.m. (PST) and ends on February 29, 2012, at 11:59 p.m. (PST). All orders must be from the CafePress Marketplace. Offer valid online at CafePress only, cannot be combined with any other coupons and may change, be modified or cancelled at anytime without notice. This promotion cannot be applied to past orders.
*************************************************
