Pinterest Accused of Sending ‘False’ DMCA Claims to Delist Downloader From Google

With the aim of making popular Pinterest downloader Pintere.com more difficult to find, the social media giant sent DMCA anti-circumvention notices to Google Search. Pintere.com URLs subsequently disappeared from Google's indexes, provoking a response from the site's operator. In correspondence with Google, Pintere.com accuses Pinterest of filing "false" claims and requests that its domain is immediately restored.

Pintere.com is a straightforward tool that enables users to download images, videos, and boards from Pinterest.

The service also works with other platforms, including Facebook, Imgur, and Instagram, but its name suggests that Pinterest is of prime interest.

The site is a project from developer Johnathan Nader, a name that regular readers may recognize. Nader is also the owner of stream-ripper Yout.com, which is actively engaged in a legal battle with the RIAA currently pending at the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Nader initiated the lawsuit in 2020, alleging that the music group sent “abusive” DMCA anti-circumvention notices to Google. Through the lawsuit, the developer aims to establish that the site does not violate U.S. law.

Pinterest Targets Pintere.com

Pintere.com is not linked to music downloads, but that doesn’t mean that the service is immune to copyright issues. Unhappy with Pintere’s downloading capabilities, Pinterest sent DMCA anti-circumvention notices to Google search, hoping to delist site URLs from the company’s indexes.

Last week, Google informed Nader that it had removed various Pintere.com URLs from its search results following complaints, noting that the downloading tool might circumvent protections for copyrighted content.

Google’s Notice
 

The takedown notices (e.g.) appear to have been sent in August and according to information in the Lumen Database, the sender was Pinterest Inc. A quick check on Google reveals that the reported URLs were indeed removed.

Pintere Returns Fire

Disappointed that another one of his services has become a target for anti-circumvention notices, Nader sent a counter-notice to Google, requesting the search engine to reinstate the URLs.

The site’s lawyer, Frank Scardino, argues that Pinterest’s claims are “categorically false”. The letter accuses Pinterest of making false statements, arguing that its “representations to Google are false and that they materially misrepresent the Website’s activities”.

The letter

According to the letter, no circumvention is involved. Pintere is a “general purpose” tool that merely interacts with the publicly available Pinterest website using legitimate web requests.

“The Website does not descramble scrambled works, decrypt encrypted works, or otherwise avoids, bypasses, removes, deactivates, or impairs a technological measure that effectively controls access to copyrighted works,” the letter reads.

Like VCRs and DVRs

The lawyer compares Pintere.com to “VCRs and DVRs,” arguing the service is “capable of substantial noninfringing uses.” Based on these arguments, the letter formally requests Google to fully restore all URLs that were removed.

Pintere.com
 

After sending this formal notice, the ball is now in Google’s court. If these were regular DMCA notices, the search engine would be legally required to reinstate the URLs unless Pinterest takes further legal steps. That is not the case here, however.

Pinterest sent takedown notices under Section 1201 of the DMCA. They do not claim that the content on pintere.com is infringing, they say the service it provides is an illegal circumvention tool.

There’s no legal requirement for intermediaries to restore content in response to a counter-notice disputing the validity of an anti-circumvention takedown notice. As a result, it’s up to Google to decide what steps to take next.

To hear Pintrest’s side of the story, TorrentFreak requested comment on the counter-notice and the serious allegation it filed “false” claims with Google. Pintrest is yet to respond and for now, Pintere.com’s URLs are still missing from Google Search.

Source

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Posted Friday 10 October 2025 at 6:22 pm AEST (my time).

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