Copyrights On A Cake Design?
Business By CustomCakesBySharon Updated 15 Sep 2007 , 3:21pm by modthyrth
ok, if this IS indeed a case of copyright infringement (which, arguably, it sounds like it is NOT), then why would this woman not have had her lawyer contact you in a "formal cease and desist order" context? That's how these things are done in the "real" world...not in a "Hey! You stole my idea! Stop it!" manner.
that was my thought....y didn't her lawyer contact me or why didn't she send the copyright info up front.....i'll let u guys know if/when i hear back from her
Oh, by the way, I need to let you all know that I have copyrighted the word 'cake', so everytime you say, write, type, think, or sign(language) the word, you are going to need to give me a dime. Sorry for any inconvenience, but I am sure you understand the need for me to protect myself from people mindlessly using my work! 
(ok, now, I am not really falsely claiming an *actual* copyright here, just making a joke, please don't drag me onto People's Court!!hahaha)
But seriously, a pitcher of daquiris would fix what ails her. Or it would at least make her more fun to deal with. Let us know if she ever writes back!
I'd have told her I got the idea from something I ate last week for lunch. But I'm a smartass....
u guys r hilarious! i'm at work (yes, i have a full time job too - grrrr) and i keep laughing out loud at all of u!!!
I love the idea of sending her a link to every cheesebuger cake / cupcake on the net. A couple everyday should do it. 
This lady is nuts!!!!
BTW - your are great... I put your pic into my favs.
Hey, how about a cheeseburger cake tutorial? That would really chap her butt, now wouldn't it?
Theresa 
For whatever reason, this has really bothered me!! I guess because I feel like we live in a society where everyone wants to sue one another over anything. So I have searched and searched the internet the find hamburger cupcakes.
DH just got home and we are looking at the websites trying to guess which one is the emailer!!!
Slightly off topic, but when I worked for a wire mfg'r, I got a call from a lady who had a copyright on some wiring technique she had come up with and she was trying to sell it to mfg'rs. I gave her to our head of engineering. I stopped him later and asked him about it. He said "It can't work. It won't pass UL inspection." I was confused and said, "But she got a copyright on it?" He said, "You can get a copyright on about anything.....they just check to see if anyone else filed the idea. That doesn't mean the idea is a good one .... if anyone made wire using her idea, the building would catch fire!"
(Melvira, I know you're just kidding around), but just some more FYI ...... I was involved in a trademark issue while with a casket mfg'r. During the process I learned that 'common' words cannot be trademarked. For example, a casket mfg'd cannot trademark "casket" or "coffin" because it is such a commonly used word that it would be prohibitive to others in the industry. THis prohibits anyone from doing a word-search and deciding "Hey! No one "owns" the phrase "wedding cake" so I'll trademark it and then no one else can advertise for wedding cakes!" It's such a common phrase that it cannot be trademarked.
I did know a lady who owned a restaurant, who claimed to have trademarked or copyrighted a sandwich that she created/sold. I was thinking at the time "how do you stop some guy in New York from thinking of the same sandwich without knowing anything about yours?" 
But I guess that's why we have lots of lawyers, huh?! 
Really, all you need to do is prove that someone else did the design before her. I used to do research for collectible companies and we had a lawsuit filed against us for copying the idea of a Noah's Ark salt and pepper set. Really, frivolous as far as I'm concerned --2X2 themes Noah's Ark and salt & pepper, not really a ground breaking new idea.
Anyway I ended this lawsuit by finding another company who had marketed Noah's Ark salt & pepper shakers prior to the date he claimed he made his.
This is a fascinating thread! It blows my mind that someone has the gall to state that they own the copyright to the concept of a "cheeseburger" cupcake. I have seen so many beautiful cakes on this website, truly original designs which are probably 100% copyrightable. But how can you copyright a "cheeseburger"? Sharon's info about "unique artistic elements" is right-on, and somehow I don't think that using fondant, a common CAKE DECORATING confection, would qualify as a unique artistic element for a cake that simply looks like the food item that it's representing. Maybe if she copyrighted a cheeseburger cupcake that used...I dunno...swarovski crystals...? Stained glass? LOL...
Maybe we should all feel bad for this lady. As an artist, I know there is nothing worse than coming up with an original idea and then discovering that 800 other people have already thought about it. Her heart probably just sank when she realized how many cheeseburger cupcakes already existed, and I'd guess that in a sheer state of denial, she lashed out. Poor thing.
I have an old Betty Crocker cookbook for Kids from 1979! My mom got it for me and I loved it- I still treasure it as a special momento. Well, in that book is a recipe for a Cheeseburger Cake and a picture of the finished product! Trust me! Cheeseburger cupcakes and Cheeseburger cakes are not unique designs! I think that lady is nuts!
By the way- those cupcakes are sooooo cute- I love them!
P.S. to my above post: The reason I was involved in a trademark issue with the casket company was that another casket mfg'r was trying to say we were infringing on their recently copyrighted/trademarked phrase. We just had to pull out all of our literature to show we had been using that phrase for YEARS before they claimed it as "theirs" and it quickly became a non-issue.
Sounds like this chic needs to get a copy of Betty Crocker's book. Or .... Hmmmmm .... maybe Betty Crocker would like to contact her about using THEIR design?????
This is crap!!! My oldest son is going to be 30.
I made the cheeseburger vanilla wafer cookies. Some of you will know what I am talking about. So back then if someone could make them out of vanilla wafers what makes this woman think that we couldn't figure out how to make one out of a cupcake!!!! DUH!!!!!
I'm with Karateka, but mine with have been 30 years ago! lol
Lu
I do not believe for one second that she is the only person ever who has made a cheese slice out of fondant.... .
I made cheese out of fondant for the cheeseburger on my grill cake!!! Let her prove that she made them first and is the original creator - which she is not!
I'm so sorry this lady was ugly to you. I agree - don't do a thing about removing your picture until she gives you some proof....which I'll be shocked if she can. The nerve of some people!!!
Where's Jan with the list of links to other burger cakes???
BTW - yours are adorable.
....As an artist, I know there is nothing worse than coming up with an original idea and then discovering that 800 other people have already thought about it.
My husband does stand up comedy on the side. He will frequently come downstairs with a new bit he's just written and I'll bust his bubble by telling him it was funnier when Foxworthy or Seinfeld did it. He SWEARS, ".... But I didn't see them do it! I just spent 2 hours writing this!" It's really original ... to him .... he wrote it. But it's already been done.
Great minds, ya know! 
I can't even believe her nerve.....
I had a Cheeseburger birthday cake for my 10th birthday and that was 29 years ago! I don't think that it is a stretch that there have been Cheeseburger cupcakes out there thatlong as well. I think it is pathetic for her to think she can copyright a cheeseburger. If it had her bakeries logo printed across the bun then maybe....but then no one would by hers would they?!
Something I did learn this week, which I will share with all of you. All materials that are copyrighted in the US are cataloged in the Library of Congress. Therefore, if the item is truly copyrighted, you would be able to go to the LOC and look at it. To claim a copyright that does not exist is punishable for misrepresentation under federal law.
Theresa
That is definitely NOT true. According to the US Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#mywork), you do NOT need to register to be protected. However, you DO have to register if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. Registering before infringement occurs does make it easier to prove that your work was created prior to the one you claim is an infringement.
Red Panda
I have to laugh, is she going to sue wal mart too??? I saw hamburger cupcakes at wal mart, and they had fries with them! The fried looked to be pound cake, cut to look like thos ebig steak fries LOL.
OK, I second the tutorial because I really want to know how you did the meat part. I love those, I am going to make them myself, and put pics up
I made a Hamburger cake back in 2000 and never saw a single picture of one before I did, nor did I have the Internet, and I used Fondant for the cheese on mine too??? :\\
I can understand your concern about this, it would worry me too, but I really don't think you have anything to worry about, that's what happens when you put your cake pictures out for millions to see, someone is bound to have made one simular before you,someone will make one like it after you, and some of us probably just got the idea from your pictures to do some like yours too!
I loved your hamburger cupcakes, you did a great job, and I put the pic in my favorites as well....so she may be after me next, cause if the opportunity comes up to make hamburger cupcakes, I will use the same concepts as I did with my first cake and I aint never saw her web site either!
I think she tried to bluff you.
I mean a LOT of people don't understand the correct definition of copyright or trademarks etc and she thought she could scare you off as a competitor. She could have even truly believed it and probably rang to find out what her copyright number is and they explained the reality to her.
I am unsure if it is different overseas, but here in Australia you can't copyright a cake design like that. You can copyright the photo of the cake, but not the cake itself and anyone can make their own and photograph their own and voila.. no infringement!
But a lot of stuff is misunderstood eg. did you know that TM does NOT mean Trademark? Most people think it does, but I went to a seminar with the head of IP(intellectual property) australia and he dumbfounded us all by telling us that.
I have trademarked my business name and have the little r in the circle next to it as that is the correct registered trademark signage. TM means nothing at all, can me tough monkeys if you like but it doesn't mean you are trademarked!
It is all so very confusing, that you can see if she misunderstood, but she really needs to do her homework before accusing someone.
I am dying to know if there have been any updates. I am sure that she is bluffing. I really don't think you will ever hear back from her. If she is reading this thread she will know that she has no way out of this one.
I find this lady amusing. I just was looking at the June issue of Modern Baking. There is an ad for an airbrush system that has a cheeseburger on it, lol! Guess she has lots of people to sue.
Three things::
1. I want to know if she ever contacts you with her documents.
2. I think you should not only find every cheeseburger picture on here, but print them off and mail them to her in a big box shapped like a cheeseburger.
3. I would love to see her chesseburger cupcake so then we can compare!! (not bash - but compare!)
Three things::
1. I want to know if she ever contacts you with her documents.
2. I think you should not only find every cheeseburger picture on here, but print them off and mail them to her in a big box shapped like a cheeseburger.
3. I would love to see her chesseburger cupcake so then we can compare!! (not bash - but compare!)
OMG I am laughing my a$$ off at the box comment LOL
If you had copied and pasted a photo of her cupcakes from her website to your own, yes, she would have cause to complain and possibly take legal action. But on this cake design? NO WAY! People have been making cheeseburger cakes for years and years, and probably on cupcakes before she thought of it herself. I would not be concerned and I certainly would not remove your cupcake photo from your website.
How many people make Whimsy cakes? Do you think Polly Schoonmaker has taken legal action against every person who has a photo of a whimsy cake on their website? I don't think so.
Just had to chime in here and put in my HUHHHHHHHHHHHH????!?!!!! 
I think that lady is out of her gourd, and that you have nothing to worry about. I can't wait to hear what she has to say if she ever writes you back, but I'd be willing to bet a giant cheeseburger cupcake that you'll never hear from her again.
Sharon, I LOVE your cupcakes!! So adorable! See how great Cake Central is? We've all got your back! 
I've been ROFL while reading everyone's responses in this thread! Melvira, you crack me up!!!!
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