Court Finds "Pinning" On the Internet To Be Fair Use (docketalarm.com) 53
speedplane writes: Pinterest has always aggressively defended their trademarks, but in 2013, they launched a trademark lawsuit against Pintrips, a travel planning startup that allows users to "pin" and share information about flights. Yesterday, however, a federal court issued a major ruling against Pinterest finding that "pinning" is a feature, not a trademark, and therefore is fair use. This seems to bode well for the many other "pinning" sites on the internet.
Pin??? (Score:5, Insightful)
How is "pinning" any different from any other type of hyperlink?
Re: Pin??? (Score:5, Insightful)
It is a trademark case, not a patent case. They wouldn't have complained if they had used another word to describe it. By the way, fair use relates to copyright, so the court almost certainly didn't rule it was fair use, they probably ruled that "pinning" is a generic word.
Re: Pin??? (Score:5, Informative)
fair use relates to copyright, so the court almost certainly didn't rule it was fair use
There is fair use in trademark too. Here's the quote from the judge (page 35):
After weighing the evidence presented at trial and considering the arguments made by the parties, the Court concludes that Pintrips satisfies the first two elements of the fair use analysis in that it uses the term pin “otherwise than as a mark” and “only to describe [its] goods or services.” 15 U.S.C. 1115(b)(4).
Re: Pin??? (Score:5, Interesting)
It is a trademark case, not a patent case. They wouldn't have complained if they had used another word to describe it. By the way, fair use relates to copyright, so the court almost certainly didn't rule it was fair use, they probably ruled that "pinning" is a generic word.
Both trademark and copyright have fair use doctrines, though I agree with you that I believe Subby meant the copyright one, in error. At the least, it's somewhat misleading because it implies that the court ruled that putting a snippet of something online was fair use from copyright infringement, which wasn't an issue.
In trademark, fair use is what allows us to say "Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy, noted anti-vax denier" - we're using Playboy's trademarks, but only to name the source and in a minimal way.
Here, this was really about whether "pinning" is a merely descriptive term for providing links and snippets. And yeah, it goes back to scrapbooking and certainly is just a descriptive term.
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But can a verb have its "use by others" legally restricted ? (copyright/patent/trademark/whatever)
I can understand a slight possibility if it is a term that becomes a verb (ie, googling) but pinning has been in use for ages as a "stick something in place somewhere" type word/action ...
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Re:Pin??? (Score:5, Insightful)
Too bad for them. I've been "pinning" locations on maps since I was a child in the 80s.
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yes but you weren't using a computer to do it ;)
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yes but you weren't using a computer to do it ;)
I do, but my monitor now has little holes all over it...
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LCDs made this possible. Pinning on CRTs was much too hard.
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Nothing secures a pin in a map like a couple whacks from a 20 pound monochrome laptop.
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Ultimately how is a tweet any different from any other post (other than limited character count)?
It's not, but shhhhhhhhhh- don't make the Twitter lawyers come after you.
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How is "pinning" any different from any other type of hyperlink?
Shhhhhhh, don't speak out against our Corporate Masters and the Benevolent Commercial Guardians of common words, Citizen!
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It uses a metaphor, so its basic usage is inherently easier to understand.
Non-developers greatly benefit from applying metaphors to computing elements in order to get how they are expected to be handled, and what are the implications of their extended . "A pinboard with clips of web pages" is much more intuitive than "a database of hyperlinks", even if they're technically the same.
Re:Seems like the right call (Score:5, Informative)
This has nothing to do with patents. This has to do with trademarks. There is no requirement that a trademark be original or novel. Simply that the owner is the earliest to make continuous use of a distinctive symbol (logo, word, color, sound, etc.) as a source identifier for a good or service (and for a federal trademark, use them in interstate commerce).
If you have priority in the mark, then others cannot use a mark in a way that causes a likelihood of confusion in the relevant public. The coding and implementation of your product has nothing to do with it. The brand identify and consumers' interest in ensuring that there are not a dozen different counterfeit Nike businesses selling athletic shoes has everything to do with it.
The surest way to have your opinions dismissed out of hand as irrelevant babblry is to demonstrate that you have literally no idea what sort of property is involved, what the legal standards are, and how it the rights are used in the real world. You've hit the trifecta.
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Incorrect. If you abandon use of a trademark for a sufficient period of time, anyone else can come along and adopt the same trademark for the same goods or services. The statutory presumption (Federal law) is abandonment after non-use for 3 years.
There are instances where a famous mar
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There was no updated information. It was clearly stated in the summary and linked decision. It was necessary to be a dick because my 6 year old has better reading comprehension, and it was a blatant topic-jack to bitch about his personal peeve instead of the subject at hand.
Re:Seems like the right call (Score:5, Insightful)
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Not sure why Pinterest even tried with this case.
My guess is they tried this case because pin-trips sounds an awful lot like pin-terest (pin-trist). My guess is that they thought they had a good chance of winning the first and were hoping that they could get a more general ruling that gave them full control of the word "pin". Basically, they lost because they got greedy. If they just went after pintrips because it was one letter sound away from their trademark pintrist -> pintrips they probably would have won.
Complaining about "Pin" was a stupid thing to do (Score:2, Insightful)
Setting aside whether trademarks actually advance anything but the lawyers' wallets, Pinterest should have simply focused on "Pintrips", and complained about the similar name of the site, instead. That probably would have got them somewhere.
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I'm pining for the fjords (Score:1)
Meanwhile, Windows declared Open Source.
Copyright? (Score:4, Informative)
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Also: I don't know how well known the late playwright Harold Pinter is on Slashdot. There is an adjective "pinteresque".
Definition of Pinteresque in English: [oxforddictionaries.com] adjective - Of or relating to Harold Pinter; resembling or characteristic of his plays. Pinter's plays are typically characterized by implications of threat and strong feeling produced through colloquial language, apparent triviality, and long pauses.
Origin: 1960s; earliest use found in The Times. From the name of Harold Pinter, British
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Well said. Also: I don't know how well known the late playwright Harold Pinter is on Slashdot. There is an adjective "pinteresque". Definition of Pinteresque in English: [oxforddictionaries.com] adjective - Of or relating to Harold Pinter; resembling or characteristic of his plays. Pinter's plays are typically characterized by implications of threat and strong feeling produced through colloquial language, apparent triviality, and long pauses. Origin: 1960s; earliest use found in The Times. From the name of Harold Pinter, British playwright + -esque. Note the similarity of the sounds of "pinteresque" and "pinterest". Surely a creative lawyer could make something of that?
I can't really see how a site called "Pinteresque" is going to overlap with "Pinterest" much. Fans of Harold Pinter probably aren't going to use "Pinteresque" to post links to cookie recipes and knitting patterns.
Pinning fair enough, but the company name? (Score:1)
Feature? (Score:2)