Copyright laws

#1 Designs on napkins and plates are often copyrighted so you can not match designs on cake.

#2 To reprint professional photos you must have photographers permission.

#3 Do not reproduce licensed images.You may only use products from suppliers who have contracts with licensing company.ALL LICENSORS HAVE ATTORNEYS LOOKING FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND THEY DO PROSECUTE. The companies often use people to set up bakeries. If a customer is desperate to have you recreate a certain image you could be in trouble.

#4 Both decorator and bakery are liable for infringement.

#5 Cake kits with decorating cards means you can make few changes.You can change size of cake and write a message.YOU CANNOT CHANGE ICING COLORS OR THE BACKGROUND DESIGN. If it shows a red border on the decorating card you must use a red border.

PANS: You may NEVER produce the shaped cakes for MONEY if they are a copyrighted character. The copyrighted shaped pans are meant for personal use only. Sesame Street, Mickey Mouse, etc. are owned copyrights and may not be sold for profit in anyway. Any generic shaped pan is not illegal and you may sell those shaped cakes...such as a 'dog', 'horse' etc.

I´ve been ask to do a cake from Martha Stewart´s Wedding book. Now my question: How much do you have to change for not get in conflict with the copyright?

Specially they asked for the BC covered cakes with fresh flowers or fruits on top.

Any help would be great

Thanks

Bettina

You can copy the cake exactly, with no problems. You could not publish a photo of the exact duplicate without giving credit to MS.

I went to a seminar with the Queensland manager of IP australia (intellectual property) and he told me that copyright means an image or picture. eg photograph taken by someone else cannot be used without their consent or you infringe copyright but that you can look at the photo and make your cake, copying the design exactly and that is fine.

Well, you have to be careful. I know of a nursery school in Taiwan that was almost closed down for having painted Mickey Mouse on their wall. They didn't copy a picture, someone just painted their version of Mickey Mouse. That is a licensed character though which might have something to do with it. It also depends on the owner of copyright having enough money and free time to prosecute. The ones that do -- really do. The ones that don't -- like most of us, if we make up a design or register one -- can't do anything about it even if someone steals a design and makes millions off it. (Unless you can find a copyright lawyer willing to work on spec, that is!) Copyright litigation is extremely expensive as lawsuits go, but sometimes a simple "cease and desist" letter will do the trick if it looks official enough.

The tricky part is that copyright in the US (and I believe all countries that are signatores to the Berne Convention) comes about at the time of creation, *even if* the author does not formally register copyright. and I think the duration is life of the author + 70 years. It's been awhile since I left my job as a secretary in a copyright law office so it's getting rather hazy.

The best policy, though, is always to create "based on" instead of by copying. First it's more ethical and legal, and second it's more creative. It's great to use someone's ideas as a starting point but you've got lots of creativity yourself and you can always put your own "stamp" on a cake. That's good business anyway because you will end up with a recognizable style just like the people everyone wants to copy!

Geez..what CAN we do?

I agree with waltz. I don't work in a law firm that practices copyright law, but I did come across a recently decided case reported in New York Law Journal. A graphic design artist used a part of another artist's design. The artist sued for copyright infringement. The court decided for the defendant graphic design artist because the resultant artwork was totally different from the original piece--the graphic design artist took only one element in the painting and put his own very original spin on it. To be absolutely certain, of course, you would have to consult an attorney, but common sense tells me that if you dream up an original design using another artist's artwork as inspiration--rather than blatantly copying, you may be o.k.

HI EVERYONE
JUST WANTED TO HAVE U ALL SEE THIS IT MAY HELP SOME
ALSO THERE ARE GOOD IDEAS HOPE U LIKE THE LINK
THANK U

http://webmall1.com/sweetdreams/copyrules.htm

Thanks flowergel. I clicked on the link and it has a lot of really good information. For those who want to read more,you can also visit the government website: http://www.copyright.gov.

hi sandy c