1. Mini Law Lesson: Brands on
Pinterest What You Legally Need
to Know
Brian Heidelberger
Winston & Strawn
bheidelb@winston.com

2. IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER
• I am not your attorney.
• This is not legal advice.
• But … I hope we can still be friends.

3. Brand Guidelines
• Personal and brand guidelines
– Brand guides apply where using Pinterest for a
commercial purpose
– You can now sign up for a business account or
convert your existing account to a business
account
– Asking for: Business type, contact, email, business
name, website and description of business and
agreement to business terms

4. Brand Guidelines
• “Business terms” aren’t really very different
than old terms.
• Businesses grant Pinterest a license to
develop, provide and use the website
• You must warrant that your content doesn’t
infringe third party rights
• Pinterest may collect and use information
from brand and its users as described in its
Privacy Policy

5. What Else?
• Your page can be verified with a badge
– Help people identify and find your brand page
– Go to “settings” and “verify website”
• Only verify top level websites (e.g., winston.com) by
uploading an html file
– You’ll get a checkmark!
– New “Pin It”, “Follow” button, “Profile widget”
and “Board widget”
• VAL: insert pic

6. Brand Guidelines
• Use the full logo:
– When you refer to Pinterest the company
– When you promote a campaign you run on
Pinterest
• Use the badge:
– With other social media icons
– Before your username or URL (e.g.,
pinterest.com/winston)

7. Brand Guidelines
• Don’t:
– Rotate their marks
– Alter their proportions or colors
– Obstruct them
– Add extraneous effects
– Use Pinterest in your app name, but can say it works with
Pinterest
– Don’t create a brand that looks like Pinterest’s
– Don’t use their name/logo on merchandise
• Can use it on packaging to indicate that people can find
you on Pinterest but include your URL (e.g.,
pinterest.com/winston)

8. Brand Guidelines – Do’s
•Use these marks in a readable size
•Maintain empty space equal to at least half the height of
the logo on all sides
•Keep them straight and free of filters and effects
•Use the red logo on light backgrounds
•Use the white logo on dark backgrounds
•Marks also include these phrases as they relate to social media
– pin, repin, pinner, and pinboard
•Contact Pinterest for other uses not mentioned in terms

9. Contest Guides – Do’s
• Encourage authenticity: Reward the quality of
pinning, not just the quantity of it.
• Promote your contest: Link to your Pinterest
account or contest board from your website,
social media and marketing channels
• Make getting involved easy: Create clear
instructions and a simple process

10. Contest Guides – Don’t
•Encourage spam: Steer clear of contests that encourage
spammy behavior, such as asking participants to
comment repeatedly.
•Run a sweepstakes where each pin, repin, or like
represents an entry. Ask pinners to vote with a repin or
like.
•Overdo it: Contests and promotions can be effective, but
you don’t want to run a contest too often.
•Suggest that Pinterest sponsors or endorses you: Make
sure you don’t say or imply this anywhere in your
marketing materials or branding.

11. SPAM – Causes Accounts to be
Flagged
• Logging in frequently
• Commenting on many pins very quickly
• Posting the same comment many times
• Following lots of users very quickly
• Pinning, repinning, and/or liking pins very quickly -
particularly repeatedly pinning things which all link to the
same source
• Using a link-shortener or a link-redirect, for example: bit.ly or
other link-shorteners - try using the full link in a comment or
pin description instead! Also try pinning from the original
source without using a link-redirect.

12. Social Media