Today I received two emails from Pinterest regarding a pin from my website. Apparently anyone who has pinned that image (or repinned that image) also received the email. Here is a copy of the email:
Don’t worry, I did not break any laws, and nobody is hauling me off to jail (at least not for this). However, I thought I should let you all know what happened so that you can learn from my mistake.
A bit of background
I have a lovely post for Chocolate Cupcakes with Marshmallow Creme Frosting (go see it, it is yummy). I posted it, promoted it, and went on with my business.
A couple of weeks later a Facebook friend and blogger let me know that she saw my cupcake image on Pinterest and it was leading to a different site. Ugh! Anyone who has experienced having their content stolen knows that it is horrible. It was even worse because that person’s pin was getting repinned like crazy.
What is a girl to do?
In a situation like this, the first thing you should do is check to see if the image and/or post content is actually on that site. I headed over to check it out, and it was one of those sites that is basically up to get ad revenue. Someone was putting other people’s content up on their site with no credit to the actual authors. I was lucky, my image and content were nowhere to be found on the site. If it had been there, I would contact the site owner and ask for it to be taken down. If it wasn’t taken down, I would file a DMCA Takedown Notice. Find out how to do this.
But what about on Pinterest?
The process for removing a stolen image from Pinterest is actually quite easy. (I laugh at that last statement because I messed it up) Let me say that again, the process for removing a stolen image from Pinterest should be quite easy. You can go to the copyright & trademark page on Pinterest and then fill out the form they provide. It is pretty straight forward. Just don’t click the wrong answer as shown below…
I read “Remove all” and thought “of course I want them all removed… why else would I be filling out this form?” I WAS WRONG. When you check off “Yes” for this, it will also remove pins that lead to your own site! So, check off “No” for this option.
That wasn’t my only mistake
Believe it or not, Pinterest picked up on this and gave me a heads up email letting me know that I may have chosen the wrong option. You would think that I could have cleared the whole thing up at this point, right? Nope. I read the email (which I don’t have anymore, so I can’t show it to you) and it was worded along the lines that they thought I made a mistake. So, I assumed I didn’t have to do anything. Now that this has happened, I realize that I should have responded to the email and let them know that I did indeed make a mistake and beg them not to take down my pin and any other pins that lead to this page.
Lessons learned
- Make sure you understand what you are doing when you fill out a form online.
- Don’t be lazy… respond to emails!
Oh, and a third lesson I learned? I have some great friends! Two people notified me that they received the emails from Pinterest and wanted to give me a heads up. And now I am writing this post.
Have you ever had someone steal an image or content? How did it turn out?
The post Pinterest & Copyright – Learn from My Mistake appeared first on Newlywed Survival.
