Pinterest used her ideas, cut her out of pay, influencer claims


Martinez claims she came up with key concepts, including allowing users to create inspiration-style pinboards reflecting their tastes in fashion, travel, design and other interests, and technology enabling people to purchase the wares featured there. — Photo by Szabo Viktor on Unsplash

A woman with five million followers on Pinterest Inc claimed in a lawsuit that founders of the company, Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra, used her ideas to help create the social-media platform and never compensated her.

Christine Martinez, a digital marketing strategist who lives in Oakland, California, said in a state court filing on Monday that she was friends with Silbermann when he asked her to help “salvage a failed shopping app”, which would later become Pinterest.

Get 30% off with our ads free Premium Plan!

Monthly Plan

RM13.90/month
RM9.73 only

Billed as RM9.73 for the 1st month then RM13.90 thereafters.

Annual Plan

RM12.33/month
RM8.63/month

Billed as RM103.60 for the 1st year then RM148 thereafters.

1 month

Free Trial

For new subscribers only


Cancel anytime. No ads. Auto-renewal. Unlimited access to the web and app. Personalised features. Members rewards.

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

Others Also Read


All Headlines:

Want to listen to full audio?

Unlock unlimited access to enjoy personalise features on the TheStar.com.my

Already a member? Log In