QUESTION
anna n.
legal question
Fri Sep 29 06:47:24 2000
I know it's considered illegal to decorate a cake from a licensed character pan and sell it, but what if a customer wants a sheet cake with a character drawn on it with icing? Is that illegal, too? Just wondering.
 

RESPONSES
TG
if it's a licensed character. sorry : (

SALLY
One cannot make a likeness of any copyrighted figure in any way, shape or form :(
The only way it might be possible is thru things like edible images, some plastics etc.
They sure have us over a barrel don't they?

BAKINGSUE
They sell the pans, but then they get mad if people use them. What we use the for, personal/business, should not matter. I don't even buy the pans anymore. If someone wants a certain likeness, I bake a sheet cake and cut it out to look like the character. If they don't like that, too bad. Sorry for being grumpy but this whole question really irks me.

Jordi
But you can always use the excuse
Sat Sep 30 19:33:33 2000
of copyrights to keep from doing some outrageous character you don;t want to do! I'm guilty of using "selective copyrighting memory" when I need to turn down a cake.

Dolores
We are...
Sat Sep 30 09:33:12 2000
educating cake decorators here. I can't begin to tell you how much controversy and missunderstanding of copyrights there use to be compared to now. Many many decorators know now that didn't before internet. This is good. Long ago people infringed with no repercussions. Then in the 70's a group of lawyers who needed money thought of arresting people for this and it grew from there.
No one should really copy anything that has been copyrighted by someone else and then sell it. I know I wouldn't like for anyone to copy and sell my books etc. that I worked so hard on writing. Its the same with those people who made the characters (Pokemon for instance). So if we're nice about it, we just do whats legal and nothing that breaks the law on this.
Wilton developed those pans for the homemaker. Not for businesses. It is legal for them to use the pans for their family and friends so long as they don't take money for their work. I can understand that. If the cake was decorated badly that would be bad representation.
This is all it can ever be - for the homemaker, not for us. We use Edible Images, the tiny figures in a scenery etc. Kids love the toys anyway. We charge the customer for that additional cost.

KATHY Y
What makes edible images ok? Lots of that stuff you can download for free from the internet... that's ok????

PEGGY P
The reference to edible images refers to the premade frosting sheets that you can buy/order. They already have the characters on them, and the maker of the sheets has already paid for the rights to usethem. It it NOT legal to download an image from the internet and copy it yourself in frosting or print it yourself on a copyjet system.

JODY
BKeith posted an interesting link back several months ago. It had to do with copyrights in general, not specifically cake decorating, but was very interesting. One of the things that I remember from that article was that the creator of a character (i.e. Disney for Mickey Mouse) HAS to go after people who use their copyrighted characters without permission... NOT just to be a "big meanie", but because if they don't, they can lose their own rights to the character. If every Tom, Dick and Harry were allowed to do their versions of Mickey Mouse and duplicate him on anything without repercussions, Disney could lose their copyrights to Mickey. I'm with everyone else in that I hate the whole issue, but it helps to understand WHY it is the way it is. Happy Decorating! :o) Jody

KATHY

  I don't think anyone on here is intentionally trying to make anyone else feel like a crook or to lecture. The reason this gets
rehashed so often is because new people show up and either have been misinformed about copyright/licensing laws or don't
understand them.
   The bottom line is - someone copyrights or licenses a product because they came up with the idea and don't want anyone else to be able to profit illegally from their hard work. You can legally use a licensed character pan to make a cake for home use only because the copyright/license holder has made his profit from the sale of the pan. If you sell a cake made from that pan the holder did not make a profit from the sale of that cake so that would be illegal. If you trace or draw a copyrighted character, the holder does not make a profit from that use of his character, wheter you sell it or not. If you purchase a figurine or edible image and place it on a cake the copyright/license holder has made his profit from the sale of the figurine, so that is legal.
   Now to be realistic, if you draw characters on your wall or paper for fun, on free cakes for family, or make your kids a
halloween costume, they are probably not going to send their high dollar lawyers after you. If you start marketing t-shirts and
making big bucks, they'll make mince meat out of you if they can.
   If a company does not protect their copyright - they lose the right to protect it. Using Calvin and Hobbes as an example - they are all over the place. On t-shirts, window stickers, decals, etc. But the owner has never sold the rights to anyone so anything you see with those characters besides the books and comic strips are illegal. He has probably never bothered to go after anyone for selling those items since they are all over the country. If I decide to do a Calvin and Hobbes cake and sell it he would have trouble prosecuting me because I could argue that he let all those others get away with it so he can't come after me.   That's why Disney has to be so aggressive. If they don't they would lose the right to defend their products and characters and they would lose millions of dollars.
   I am not trying to lecture anyone or tell them what to do. I am only trying to tell people the facts so they can make an informed choice. Only you can decide if you want to take the risk of breaking a law. Understanding that law and the penalties of breaking it helps you make a decision you can live with. What one person can live with will be different from what others can. I know the speed limit and I know what the penalties are for breaking it. Only I can decide if I want to risk those penalties by speeding.
   Also the consequences of breaking laws are as different as the laws themselves. There is a huge difference in the consequences of jaywalking, speeding, copyright infringement, drunk driving, assault, murder. I can live with myself if I jaywalk or go a little bit over the speed limit. I couldn't live with myself if I killed someone driving drunk or murdered someone. Everyone has to decide for themselves what they can live with.