- Pinterest wants to dismiss a lawsuit by an influencer who claims to be a co-creator of the site.
- It asked a California court to dismiss the suit on Friday, saying she waited too long.
- Christine Martinez filed her claims in September, more than a decade after Pinterest's launch.
Pinterest wants a California court to dismiss a lawsuit by an influencer who claimed to be one of the platform's co-founders, according to reports.
The social media company said Christine Martinez, a digital marketing strategist, had waited too long to bring forward her case, Bloomberg Law and other outlets reported.
Martinez originally filed a suit against Pinterest in September. She used it to accuse founders Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra of breach of implied contract, idea theft, unjust enrichment, and unfair business practices.
On Friday, Pinterest asked a California state judge to dismiss the lawsuit Martinez filed three months ago, saying she played no part in starting the company.
Her lawsuit claimed she helped come up with the idea of Pinterest. This allegedly occurred when Silbermann asked her to "help salvage a failed shopping app," and she supplied ideas that were "core organizing concepts" like categorizing images on boards, according to the suit.
Pinterest launched in January 2010 and went public in 2019. Eleven years after its launch, Martinez said she wants to claim her financial stake in a tech success story that she has been "erased" from.
According to her claim, Pinterest wouldn't be the platform it is today without her.
Silbermann remains CEO, and Sciarra no longer works at the company. Both hold lucrative stakes in the business, worth about $1 billion. Martinez hasn't stated what amount she believes she is entitled to.
It is unclear why Martinez waited more than a decade to bring forward her case. Insider previously spoke to several people who knew her in the early days of Pinterest. They found that she was an accomplished blogger, who made a career out of her success as a Pinterest user. But she never publicly spoke about her role as a co-founder.
Forbes reported that current and former employees have little or no recognition of her. In a 2012 book co-authored by Martinez on "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pinterest Marketing," she describes herself only as an "early adopter."
While Martinez's role as a co-founder isn't established, Insider reported that she was one of 11 bridesmaids at Silbermann's 2011 wedding in Los Gatos, California. The Pinterest founders themselves were invited to Martinez's Oakland wedding, where their names were written on ribbonned place cards.
Pinterest's stock has performed well during the pandemic, but is down 44% so far this year. The company didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.