I Nevermind...I just read on your site that you are taking a break! Sorry! Wasn't trying to be nosy!
Hey Jen-
No, I don't work from home. I actually am not even making cakes right now. I was previously renting a kitchen, but taking a break for the summer.
I am sure they contacted the HD about me, too. But my site is all shut down to protect myself from these rotten people.
Just saw this before I posted! Sorry!
For all robbed members only: I have taken screenshots of morethanjustcakes website. All the pics. I have put those into four WordPerfect documents, and can send them to you for possible legal actions, if warranted. Each of her sections is one document. Just let me know which one you need.
(And yes, I have a lot of time on my hands, I've got a back injury and am permanently disabled. I am sitting here right now with the icepack, and ....I HATE injustice....so.... I will help where I can. )
If you google "More Than Just Cakes," the first link that comes up is a site where they still state that they work from "the comfortability of their own home." It also lists their address in Texas -- the only way to be licensed in-home is to have a completely separate kitchen that cannot be accessed from your house. Just thought I'd throw that out there since they decided to "out" all you obviously illegal bakers. ::sarcasm::
Now I am baking out of this thread and hoping not to get flamed.
Just to let you all know they added a disclaimer to the site that says that not all pics on the site are their....sooo I dont know how that makes it right or not. But they are in fact stating now that not all of them are theirs.
So y'all want the name of the site now? Now that they have outed themselves, I think it is fine to do.
Jeeze. That's what I get for trying to protect them for the past several days. That's "karma" for you.
Actually, the site has been removed. No point in sharing. You have the name of their business, though, More Than Just Cakes.
I read this original thread when it was posted and I wanted to ask a question, but it was getting pretty heated so I didn't. Since it showed up again I was wondering if you guys could answer a question for me? I want to preface my question by saying I don't think what this woman did was right at all and I am not defending her at all so please don't get mad at me I was just curious if anyone knows, if you don't actually go through the legal process of purchasing a copyright for your photographs and you post them online, can't anyone copy them? I know you can put watermarks and stuff on them, but if they aren't legally copyrighted aren't they fair game? Again, I'm not saying it's right and I'm not saying that you guys didn't have your photos legally copyrighted, I'm just curious for my own knowledge.
there is no law against anyone posting photos of your cakes and them saying they can make a cake like it..its not any different from you showing your brides a collette peters book, or a martha Stewart book and saying you can make that same cake...Its more of a moral issue. I suggest you just watermark your photos and then you won't have to worry about it.
There is a HUGE difference between copying a design that inspired you AND taking that person's work and showing as your own creation... TOTALLY HUGE DIFFERENCE...
I can make a cake that Collete Peters made and still give her credit for inspiring me to make it... although I know mine would be not as beautiful as her own work. But I will NEVER post her photo and claim it as my own creation.
You cakes are beautiful enough without inspiration
Hi again everyone,
I just wanted to bump this up the list.
I have found a LOT of photos that were stolen straight off of CC, which means this person is one of us.
I really need your help in trying to find out which photos from her site were taken from CC, so please keep the PM's coming.
Thanks
Since the web site is not posted, how do we know if our photos are on there or not?
I read this original thread when it was posted and I wanted to ask a question, but it was getting pretty heated so I didn't. Since it showed up again I was wondering if you guys could answer a question for me? I want to preface my question by saying I don't think what this woman did was right at all and I am not defending her at all so please don't get mad at me I was just curious if anyone knows, if you don't actually go through the legal process of purchasing a copyright for your photographs and you post them online, can't anyone copy them? I know you can put watermarks and stuff on them, but if they aren't legally copyrighted aren't they fair game? Again, I'm not saying it's right and I'm not saying that you guys didn't have your photos legally copyrighted, I'm just curious for my own knowledge.
there is no law against anyone posting photos of your cakes and them saying they can make a cake like it..its not any different from you showing your brides a collette peters book, or a martha Stewart book and saying you can make that same cake...Its more of a moral issue. I suggest you just watermark your photos and then you won't have to worry about it.
Did you guys miss this part? It IS different.
Hey guys. I thought i might help abit here. I am first a photographer and cake person second. If you took the picture it is your picture. UNLESS you gave her permission to use it or you are getting commissions of her using that image she can not by law use it without YOUR consent. What she is doing is against the law. She is taking big chances by doing this.
jennywaldon you took the words right out of my text. lol.. I took some photography classes and what Jenny said is correct. When you, yourself, take a photo it is automatically copyrighted. You do not have to file for a copyright on it. Hence, copying someone's photo and using it on your website is copyright infringement. If you research, you might can find a link on the goverment copyright where you can file a complaint with them. I filed a complaint against a credit card company once. It's worth checking into. I hope this helps.
y'all may find this interesting!
http://www.malaysiaexports.com/copyright.htm (read the myths part)
That is true of photographs that someone is selling and claiming their own..this girl is not claiming the photographs are her own. She is claiming she can make these cakes...(which in itself may not be a valid claim) Sure, Its upsetting, but i highly doubt its worth the money of a lawyer to go after this person. As in that last post I posted a very interesting thread, too long to post here, but you might find this of interest:
MYTH #1. "I do not need to register my photos with the copyright office, because I 'automatically' have copyright at the instant I snap the shutter."
This is a serious misunderstanding of the law. Yes, you do own copyright without registration. BUT if you want to protect your photos from theft, you should register them with the Copyright Office, before you publish or distribute them. If you register your photos, you gain powerful remedies against infringers. These can include:
Civil penalties ("damages"). The pirate is on the hook for up to $150,000 for each misused photo.
Attorney's fees: the infringer has to pay your attorney's hourly fees and all costs such as copies, postage, filing fees, etc.
Restraining orders, Preliminary and Permanent Injunctions against the infringer, and even seizure of the pirate's computer equipment in some cases.
An important practical point is that if the photos are registered, you might find an attorney to take the case on "contingency," which means he takes the risk of gambling on a win, rather than you paying him by the hour. Faced with a lawsuit over registered images - and an injunction which would likely mean being put out of business forever - many pirates will quickly settle up and pay.
By contrast, if you did not register your photos, it is almost impossible, as a practical matter, to nail an infringer. To get any damages at all, you have to prove how much the pirate made off your particular photos, or exactly how much money the theft cost you. Either is almost impossible to prove. And you do not recover attorney's fees, so the cost of the lawsuit would far outweigh your possible recovery.
So, if you have registered your work, you are in good shape to "convince" an infringer to stop, or to successfully sue him. If you have not registered, you probably cannot do anything about pirates.
I tried to find the website and all i get is a website about Jesus. Did they take it down?
And this is at the end.
"UMMARY
Unless you have specific permission, you can not distribute, copy, publicly display, sell, or otherwise exploit or commercially use someone else's photos.
Photos posted on newsgroups are not yours to use. They are not in the "public domain." In fact, with extremely rare exceptions, no recently-created photo is in the public domain.
The "Fair Use" doctrine almost never excuses infringement of a photograph, particularly where the infringing use is commercial or where it hurts the market for the photo.
Copyright is normally valid with or without a copyright notice.
Copyright infringement is copyright infringement regardless of the infringer's motive.
People who infringe photographs are likely to be crushed in Court, and even have their businesses closed down.
Copyright violation may be treated as a serious crime, as well as a civil wrong."
I'm not getting into this- the point is, she did NOT have anyones permission, and was asked several times to take it down.
What she was doing was wrong, and I actually believe that if a group were to file a lawsuit against her (if for nothing more than to shut her business down) they would win.
Edited to say, that she never specifies which photos are hers and which are not, either. So in a sense, you could say that she was claiming ownership.
I was googling her site and found where she had posted a blurb and some pictures on Forth Worth Weekly website. I wonder if the pictures she posted are actually her cakes?
The link is the following with http:// in front but do not put www.
fortworth.fwweekly.com/MiscForSale/more_than_just_cakes_/classifieds/ViewAd?oid=1998235
Then, I also found another listing with another wedding cake picture:
www.decidio.com/local-businesses/v-40-bakeries/texas/Mckinney/more-than-just-cakes-71375.html
I was googling her site and found where she had posted a blurb and some pictures on Forth Worth Weekly website. I wonder if the pictures she posted are actually her cakes?
The link is the following with http:// in front but do not put www.
fortworth.fwweekly.com/MiscForSale/more_than_just_cakes_/classifieds/ViewAd?oid=1998235
those are all Wilton cakes
Anyone else think this was like popping a pimple? We've been waiting for it all week, and FINALLY it all errupted.
http://fortworth.fwweekly.com/MiscForSale/more_than_just_cakes_/classifieds/ViewAd?oid=1998235
Here is the direct link...
Roxxxy is right...they are all Wilton pics. And she says they are HER cakes. Read the description of her business...this is where she says she makes cakes and food. When you click on the website link (freewebs) it's not there though.
This has really been interesting. Wonder what Wilton would think if they saw this web link...hmmmm.
Anyone else think this was like popping a pimple? We've been waiting for it all week, and FINALLY it all errupted.
No Not at all. I think the offender is still filled w/ pus
Mike
Anyone else think this was like popping a pimple? We've been waiting for it all week, and FINALLY it all errupted.
hahahahahaha!
so i love being the detective type and trying to figure people out. Maria & her husband John have been busy posting about their "homemade" cakes.
On this one site they posted "we have developed an award winning reputation on providing the most affordable, best tasting designer cakes for all occasions."
They should have posted "knock off designer cakes!"
http://www.plazoo.com/en/default.asp?q=morethanjustcakes&fc=&s=dt&currEF=64&currDF=&currRPP=10&currSL=&sr=1
I am also curious, since Maria has turned over a new leaf and is going legit and is going to sic the Health Dept on everyone, is she going to add herself to that list and turn herself in as well?
wow, maria must be fast and furiously typing on the computer...that plazoo link that I just posted, when you go to click on the individual postings it says this posting has been flagged for removal and will be removed in a few minutes.
Yaya-Another member PMed me and told me she reported her last week. She checked in with the McKinney Health Department this morning, and was told they were shut down yesterday.
Thank you for that link!
Mike-great come back. Filled with puss, so true!
http://fortworth.fwweekly.com/MiscForSale/more_than_just_cakes_/classifieds/ViewAd?oid=1998235
Here is the direct link...
Roxxxy is right...they are all Wilton pics. And she says they are HER cakes. Read the description of her business...this is where she says she makes cakes and food. When you click on the website link (freewebs) it's not there though.
This has really been interesting. Wonder what Wilton would think if they saw this web link...hmmmm.
It looks like all of these postings have been flagged for removal. Does that mean someone reported the listings or that they have just expired?
http://fortworth.fwweekly.com/MiscForSale/more_than_just_cakes_/classifieds/ViewAd?oid=1998235
Here is the direct link...
Roxxxy is right...they are all Wilton pics. And she says they are HER cakes. Read the description of her business...this is where she says she makes cakes and food. When you click on the website link (freewebs) it's not there though.
This has really been interesting. Wonder what Wilton would think if they saw this web link...hmmmm.
It looks like all of these postings have been flagged for removal. Does that mean someone reported the listings or that they have just expired?
If those sites are like CraigsList, they are flagged by the community and the author has the ability to take it down.
If MTJC wanted them down, they could - I think instead, it's CC members flagging them.
Am I wrong?
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