I've just read that it's illegal to sell a cake with an image of a copyrighted character.

How then, do so many people get away with Mickey Mouse, etc. on their cakes. A friend just showed me the glorious Ariel cake she got from a local bakery.

What's the deal?

Thanks.

Sarah

Most of the time, they use a transfer sheet. They purchase the image to apply to a cake. You just and reproduce the image or sell the character shaped cakes. The rule is to protect the 'image'. you can buy and use it 'ready made" but you can't create it yourself.

Then I guess this bakery is in trouble because the Ariels they had on the cake were piped. Hmmmm.

I also read that we can't sell cakes made with character pans. That they're for home use only. Anyone really worried about this??

Sarah

unless you are advertising cakes with the characters on them I really wouldn't worry about it.

This is a very complicated issue;
Let me tell you how it was explained to me.
A company (let's say Wilton) can sell cake pans with copyrighted charaters (trademarks); they can do so because they have a liscense agreement with the owner of the image (say Disney or Warner Bros). The company pays BIG BUCK$ to the owner for the right to sell the product.
A bakery can legally sell a cake using the same pan, IF the bakery has paid for the right to do so; A bakery can sell an edible image of a copyrighted product, if the process through which they are doing so allows the owner of the image to collect royalities. (ever notice the little R for registered on the bottom of those images?)
You, we, the little guy baking kiddie cakes at home can bake a cake using a copyrighted character, HOWEVER, you may not sell it for commercial gain. The companies (i.e. Wilton) or the bakery can sell it to you FOR PERSONAL HOME use & not for commercial use (this would be considered mis-use (and the owner can no longer control how many times it it used, or collect any royalties).


'Sweet Dreams by Tracy' has a good summary at this url:

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

for more info, it might be useful to check the site from the U.S. Copyright Office- : www.copyright.gov and www.copyrightkids.org


(anyone, please do correct me if I am wrong on this...)
sorry for making this so long...
ciao

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-29696-decopac.html

This link is to another topic discussing the same thing.

Copyright is a big thing, expecially when you get into characters.

As for being worried about selling character cakes, I won't do it b/c I dont' want to take the chance. There are a lot of people out there that do it, but to me it isnt' worth the thousands of dollars in fines if someone comes back at me. If someone wants a copyrighted character then I will make a cake with the theme, but they can go buy the character (toy from the toy department) and place it on the cake.

As for "getting away" with mickey mouse, etc. There are certain items that the larger corporations Approve to be made. Such as the edible images/cake kits you find at the local bakery. If something is made out of icing (like the piped ariel) then it is considered illegal b/c there is no way for the larger corporation (the owner of the character) to recoup their royalties on the cake.

People say that you can change the color of the clothing or hair, but disney has won cases based on the overall look. They can set up a case based on the similarities. If they can get a certain percentage of people to look at an image and think of one of their characters then they can win a case. Granted this is harder to prove and this is a way some people get around making cakes, they sell it as a Mermaid cake or a Princess cake (blue dress blonde hair, similiar to cinderella)

This is a tricky area of any business and can cost a lot of money if found guilty. So for me, I just steer clear and buy either the cake kits or toys and then no worries-the companies got what they wanted

HTH

Leily

This is a tricky area of any business and can cost a lot of money if found guilty. So for me, I just steer clear and buy either the cake kits or toys and then no worries-the companies got what they wanted

HTH

Leily[/quote]

THanks so much for all the info everyone! I am curious here though. If I buy a kit, then can I sell it to a customer, or am I still only supposed to use it for home use?

Sarah

I emailed Wilton and asked them that same question, and this is what they sent me:

Thank you for visiting our website!

All of the licensed products developed and distributed by Wilton are for
home use only. Consumers may not utilize character molds, pans, etc.
for commercial use. Our license agreements preclude us from authorizing
this type of activity. If you are interested in obtaining a license
from a particular licensor, in order to produce licensed candy or bakery
goods on a commercial basis, you would need to contact the licensor and
discuss with them directly.

Below is a copy of the licensed products guidelines. Let us know if you
have any further questions.

LICENSING GUIDELINES ON PRODUCT USE

All licensed characters shaped cake pans, candy molds, Cake Top!(tm)
Edible Cake Decorations, candles, toppers and cookie cutters are for
consumer home use only. Stores/shops cannot make cakes, cookies or
candies from our licensed products and sell them to consumers. These
"mold making items" are strictly prohibited for any type of commercial
use since the licensor has neither the method to control the quality of
the reproduction of the character nor the ability to earn royalties on
sales of the "made" products. This applies to both baked and craft-type
products.

Free-hand or copies character designs cannot be drawn or iced on top of
a cake, cupcakes or cookies and sold for any type of commercial purpose.
Once again, the licensor cannot control the quality and is not earning a
royalty on product created around their characters.

Licensed pans cannot be rented to consumers by stores since, once again,
the licensor is not earning a royalty from the transaction.

Generally, creating any type of image that looks like a licensed
character that is sold for commercial purposes is prohibited unless
there is specific licensing agreement with the licensor for that product
and royalties are paid each time the product is sold.

They told me this in another e-mail:

Products developed and distributed by Wilton are for home use only, and
the products cannot be sold.

If you are interested in obtaining a license from a particular licensor,
in order to produce licensed candy or bakery goods on a commercial
basis, you would need to contact the licensor and discuss with them
directly.


When they say commercial purposes, they are talking about home selling as well. So my thinking is we are wasting out money buying character pans if we cant make and sell them.

And when you think about how much they cost per pan.....
I have bought alot of character pans, now I feel as though I've just wasted my money

I find most people don't want character pans anyway. They feel like a cake decorated in stars takes no talent. Little do they know!

For the few character cakes I have sold, it has worked out *really* well for me to send the person ordering to store x to pick up some small 2-3" characters for the cake and I will design it around the characters.

Besides, this makes my cakes look more reasonably priced than if I had to add the cost of the plastic characters!

Below is one cake I made where I sent the parent to the Disney store for figurines.

Cute cake Ellen.

That's a beautiful cake, I like the swags on the side, and the use of color blends well with the figurenes.

Okay, Ellen, you have made me rethink the "plastic thingies and doohickies" on a character cake. That's really nicely done and tasteful. I was thinking of those 1/4 sheets at the store where they just plop down any old plastic toy (usually lying on its side and smooshed by globs of poorly piped and placed icing) and than made even more pathetic by the addition of a little confetti and "streamers."

Yours, however, is beautiful.

Sarah

I'm wondering if the client already had purchased the character pan and gave it to you to bake and decorate. With those 40% coupons they aren't too expensive. ( I just learned you can use the Joannes coupons at Michaels!) Write on the receipt specifically-prepared and decorated only-pan provided by client. Would this work? Maybe you could pick-up the pan and sell it to them with the cake. That way you could get a mark-up on the pan if you choose.

From what I read here, it sounds like you cannot sell anything from the character pan to an image unless the company has had its claws into it.

I've been thinking about this, and I'm I the only one whose a little, well, steamed about this issue?

1. Doesn't Disney make enough money already?

2. It's not like someone's going to sue Disney if a character cake made by a home-business is somehow "bad."

I can understand why they wouldn't want a big bakery that sells hundreds of cakes a day not selling the images without a license, but why on earth would they worry about the home business? I guess what I'm thinking is that it would be really nice if Disney (etc.) would give the little guy a break and release the image on a limited basis. In the end, we'd just be great advertising for them, and they'd get even more customers to walk through those magical gates for $100 per day.

Just venting a little....not necessarily being logical... sorry.

Sarah

No, your not the only one mad about this. I guess I could do what Wilton said and contact those places and get permission from them. Actually I think I will contact them and see what they say and I'll post it here.

I know I'd love to hear what they say - do they charge some exhorbitant amount, or do they base it on how much you sell, or do they base it per image used?

I do understand that it is someone's individual artwork that we are semi-stealing when we put an image on a cake that we got from the Internet or something - but if I buy a coloring book and copy & image and put it on a cake - well, I did pay for the coloring book, right?? Same thing should go for the pans - I did pay for the pan, so I paid to use the image.....

I also agree that we are advertising for them somewhat. Yes, we're using your image - but my gosh - it's cake! It's not like we're selling thousands of T-shirts or mugs or other crap w/ your logo or image on it - we're selling a cake that is consumable - no one is keeping the image forever that is on the cake..... it's just sad.

It was funny when I was in Taiwan for a week to visit my uncle b/c they don't really have copyright laws there - so I saw kids wearing T-shirts that looked like Elmo, but Elmo was blue! And the words looked like the "Sesame Street" font, but said something different..... too bad we can't get away w/ changing hair color or dress color or something so we can still sort of sell the cake w/ images...

wow that turned out longer than I thought it would be - just makes me a little mad..... it's really taking the joy away from the kids who love these brands but don't want some stupid figure on their cake.... which is bad customer policy in my opinion These are your future customers!

Okay I'm really new to all of this but you all got me wondering about the Wilton pans that Wilton designed. The baby buggy and butterfly and teddy bears, etc. Aren't all of those liscenced too? Or does all of this only apply to Disney and such?
Just got my curiosity up.