Motion for Dismissal in Pinterest v. Pintrips Trademark Lawsuit

Jan 5, 2014 Phoenix, AZ

If you are a frequent user of the internet, and social media in particular, you are undoubtedly familiar with the website Pinterest.

A website dedicated to pinning things to your wall to share with others, it is a clever blend between Twitter’s social feed, and Facebook’s more graphic-based interface.

Back in October, Pinterest filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against social media startup Pintrips, in which Pinterest accuses them of trademark infringement, unfair competition, trademark dilution, and false designation of origin. Since then, however, Pintrips has returned fire, with a motion to dismiss based on 2 criteria: That the word “pin” is generic and not trademarked, and that Pinterest has filed a claim on insufficient grounds as well.

Pinterest is no stranger to trademark woes, either. According to a court in Europe, the word “Pinterest” is trademarked by a startup company called Premium Interest, although the company Pinterest will be filing an appeal.

In the motion filed by Pintrips, they have accused the $4-billion-net-worth Pinterest of predatory behavior towards their “hard-working startup,” which they say doesn’t even belong to the same social media space. In addition, Pintrips is blaming Pinterest’s legal action on their initial failure to secure trademark rights.

In the suit, Pintrips stated: ““Frustrated by its failure to secure a U.S. trademark registration for the term ‘pin,’ and knowing that it cannot assert trademark rights for the term ‘pin,’ Plaintiff has resorted to suing Pintrips, Inc. (‘Pintrips’), a hard-working start up, on specious claims. Pintrips is not a social media platform. It is an online travel planning tool that allows users to review and monitor information for commercial flights…Part of Pintrips’ functionality [as we have written about before] is based on allowing users to virtually pin flights while planning travel arrangements. This Complaint is a textbook example of an industry giant using a spurious lawsuit to bully a small entity into giving up its right to use a generic, common term that merely describes a core function of its service.”

Pinterest, however, refutes that claim, saying that their application to trademark the term “PIN” had already been approved (but not yet accepted) by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. It is unknown whether the application will be approved or not, though, since many more high-profile companies already use the term “pin,” such as Facebook, Google, and Microsoft.

It is unknown how this lawsuit will turn out, but it will be interesting to find out whether Pinterest can trademark such a common term or not.

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Motion for Dismissal in Pinterest v. Pintrips Trademark Lawsuit

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