So, one of our fave social media networks, Pinterest, has filed a federal lawsuit for trademark infringement (among other things) against, tech newcomer Pintrips. According to the Pintrips website:

Pintrips allows consumers to be the shopaholics and searchaholics that they are. Pintrips turns the tedious task of planning and coordinating travel into a seamless experience. Bookmark specific flights from all travel sites you already use, track and compare your results on a main dashboard, and collaborate with others.

Pinterest’s beef is this:

• They believe that Pintrips intentionally adopted a “confusingly similar” name to capitalize off of the popularity of the Pinterest brand and;
• Pintrips “Pin” button that allows users to collect and save their favorite trips is too darn similar to the “Pin It” button on Pinterest.

[gview file=”http://creativegeniussociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/pinterest-lawsuit.pdf”]

I browsed Pintrips, and definitely raised a brow at the option to “pin” onto a “travel board.” Of course, the names itself raises a hard brow as well. It will be interesting to see how this case plays out.

My tip for you…

It’s okay for another brand to inspire you. That’s downright normal. But, let it inspire you to create your own unique ish.

Not a spin-off of someone else’s brand.

I’m just saying….