Open Forum

Hello,
I'm the executive director of Visions Art Museum: Contemporary Quilts + Textiles in San Diego, California. We are increasing our social media presence and are looking into maintaining a Pinterest business account with images accessible via our website, but have some reservations about the Pinterest terms of service. We are a small museum of about 600 members with limited access to legal services due to budget. We would like to pin images of quilts by our members, with their permission, of course, but are concerned about protecting the copyright of the artist's images. We would print the copyright across the bottom of each image. As Pinterest assumes no liability for copyright infringement, is there a way to protect the artist's copyright other than the aforementioned? We cannot afford litigation should such an infringement occur.
If your museum has considered using Pinterest, could you share your arguments for or against? Thanks in advance for your reply.

Beth Smith
Executive Director
Visions Art Museum: Contemporary Quilts + Textiles
San Diego, California
beth@visionsartmuseum.org
visionsartmuseum.org

Hello Beth,

There are two possible ways I can think of two possibly help in the situation. The first would be putting the information of who designed the quilt and put the museum as a photo credit. So for example, Quilt Design by Jane Doe; Photo Credit: Contemporary Quilts + Textiles in San Diego, California. Every time someone shared the image, that description should follow so people know its source. Another thing you could do is make a watermark for the photos, a good example would be an opaque version of your logo in the corner of the photo. I think by doing both of those, you can prove your ownership of the image should you ever have to.

I hope that helps somewhat!

------------------------------
Brandon Young MLS
Museum Assistant II
The Sherman Museum
Sherman TX

Original Message:
Sent: 12-14-2015 10:42 PM
From: Beth Smith
Subject: Pinterest Terms of Service

Hello,
I'm the executive director of Visions Art Museum: Contemporary Quilts + Textiles in San Diego, California. We are increasing our social media presence and are looking into maintaining a Pinterest business account with images accessible via our website, but have some reservations about the Pinterest terms of service. We are a small museum of about 600 members with limited access to legal services due to budget. We would like to pin images of quilts by our members, with their permission, of course, but are concerned about protecting the copyright of the artist's images. We would print the copyright across the bottom of each image. As Pinterest assumes no liability for copyright infringement, is there a way to protect the artist's copyright other than the aforementioned? We cannot afford litigation should such an infringement occur.
If your museum has considered using Pinterest, could you share your arguments for or against? Thanks in advance for your reply.

Beth Smith
Executive Director
Visions Art Museum: Contemporary Quilts + Textiles
San Diego, California
beth@visionsartmuseum.org
visionsartmuseum.org

Also, I think pinterest would be a great way to show off the quilts of your members. I know there's a strong crafts community on the site and it may even drum up more support for your museum. Ultimately, the copyright issues will be present with every possible social media platform, such is the nature of an ever sharing internet population.

------------------------------
Brandon Young MLS
Museum Assistant II
The Sherman Museum
Sherman TX

Original Message:
Sent: 12-22-2015 02:57 PM
From: Brandon Young
Subject: Pinterest Terms of Service

Hello Beth,

There are two possible ways I can think of two possibly help in the situation. The first would be putting the information of who designed the quilt and put the museum as a photo credit. So for example, Quilt Design by Jane Doe; Photo Credit: Contemporary Quilts + Textiles in San Diego, California. Every time someone shared the image, that description should follow so people know its source. Another thing you could do is make a watermark for the photos, a good example would be an opaque version of your logo in the corner of the photo. I think by doing both of those, you can prove your ownership of the image should you ever have to.

I hope that helps somewhat!

------------------------------
Brandon Young MLS
Museum Assistant II
The Sherman Museum
Sherman TX