Yes, costume that is what I was trying to get across, that if you went to court you would HAVE to prove you have the legal papers stating your property as copyrighted.

But in any case the way towncrier is stating this chick has no right at all to use those photos.

summernmicha, your situation is totally different you have direct permission with perameters set in place so the arrangement is agreeable to both parties and of course above board. Not so with towncrier and the former employee.


andiesweet....correct me if I am wrong but isn't it illegal in Florida to do cakes from you home kitchen?

Who's camera were the photos taken on?

Who own's all the original photos?

Was there any sort of agreement as to whether or not the employee could take photos?

The bakery she worked for and the cakes belong to the bakery. All she did was decorate for us a an employee.

But who own's the photos?

Who's camera and who's pictures?

the cakes were created for our customers and paid directly to the bakery. Pictures were taken by the bakery for our website to promote sales directly to us. I think it is different when you as a decorator use pictures in a portoflio verses 2 weeks later open up your home bake shop and using the same pictures on there website to promote their business. It is truly morally wrong. It can prove to be a conflict of interest.

So to be clear. The bakery took the photos on their own camera and the employee stole them off your website to use on their own website?

This is one of those instances where who decorated the cake dosn't matter. The person that took the picture owns the picture and can do with it what they choose. I do not allow decorators to take pictures of their cakes with anything other than a cell phone ( those pictures are usually to low in resolution to be of much use.)

Snark, cameras in phones can have kick ass resolution now. They look like poo in the phone but when downloaded...

I'd say if the bakery took the pictures themselves and the employee "lifted" those off of the bakery site then the employee is in the wrong.

If the employee took a picture of those cakes with her own camera......which she may have without the bakery knowing.....then she owns those pictures and can do whatever she pleases with them.

I did a wedding last weekend and many people took pictures of my cake (castle cake in my photos) I'm seeing that picture pop up on all the guests FB pages....including the photographer's page. Not much I can do about it, they own the pic's. As long as they don't "claim" to have made it, I'm OK with it.


Edit to add: This employee.....did she actually decorate the cakes in question?

I'm not here to argue. Nor to be mean. But I have to say that it saddens me that someone would blatantly lie about a situation out of spite.

None of the statements made by the OP are "from their perspective". They are being stated as fact and when asked to clarify, they are blatantly lying.

The photos of the cakes in question were taken with verbal permission. I probably have e-mails about the photos to back that up. They were taken on my camera and my husband's camera using MY flash card. They were edited in size and in some cases had pretty little borders added by ME, at my house, on my computer. I have all the originals.

After playing around and picking my favorites, I e-mailed 1 or 2 of the photos to my former employer. I keep all e-mails and can produce proof. I was told several times that (and again verbally) that it was understood I'd be using these photos for my portfolio and they were proud to be helping me build my portfolio.

I was NOT planning to open my own shop at any point while working at the bakery. BUT as many of you know, I had several issues while working at an unnamed bakery and asked for advice because I was thoroughly bewildered by some of the things that were happening. Due to all of that, I did think about opening my shop at times but was deterred by all the reasons I've stated in posts on CC on different occasions.

After I left the bakery (a decision I made). I was unsure as to how I should proceed. My husband wanted me to go to another bakery but he also wanted me to get my license because I was turning away or referring away a lot of business. I was hesitant to go to another shop because of some of the issues that came up while working at this bakery and I was fearful I'd have to deal with these things again and I didn't want that kind of stress.

I had a lot of support from friends, family members, and other CC'rs and was encouraged to go out on my own. About a week AFTER I left the bakery, I started the process. I was very fortunate to have the process speed along but should anyone need proof that the process didn't start until after I left, I'll be happy to provide that documentation as well.

All that to say that I've removed the pictures from my website despite the fact that I took them on my camera after I decorated the cake while I had permission and GAVE a copy to my boss. Because I think this whole thing is ridiculous and I can make plenty more cakes.

Some of those photos were even taken AT MY HOUSE where I was working on display cakes. Most of the cakes were decorated using many of my own tools and a lot of my own dyes as I didn't have bakery dye at my house. Much of the prep work for sold cakes (gum paste etc...) was done at my home using MY dyes, dusts, and equipment. Again, I can prove all of this.

I think this whole thing is hateful and has been brought up out of spite. I appreciate those of you who gave me a heads up.

We can only control our own actions and not the actions of others.

I wish the bakery much success in the future.

Finally,thank-you for all your feed back and postive words. There were no lies told or being spiteful. Permission was never given to put these photos for a custom cake buisness. At that point the op was only make cakes for friends and family due to licensing. We would want the same respect that op would want since she is very cut and dry. I am sure that would be she same way for her. This is business and nothing else. Just like other post that were made about the bakery, I was was only looking for some advice and nothing else. Same here I really wish the same success you wished us. Thanks to all for you kind words and such.

Oh wow! Truly sounds like you did have all your ducks in a row and permission, and you took the higher ground and removed the photos in question. Kudos for you! Thank you for explaining your side.

You know the saying each side of an argument sees things their way and the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

I tend to lean towards your explainations since you did remove the photos in question. That action, in and of itself, tells me you have ethics and class! Now it just sounds like sour grapes on the part of the OP.

Good luck with your business, I hope you have great success.

He said, she said.

Hmmmm sounds like panties are in a bunch because they need to hire a new decorator.

Mike

we got a crazy spy on this site that combs thru the posts and gets herself involved in things that are none of her business, she will get in touch with people if you leave any personal info on here.

i wonder if this is what happened here, op has only posted today.

we know the decorator, she has been trying to do the thing that would be good for all involved in you remember her prior posts.

i wonder if our lil "here for the cake, not the drama"...emailed op.

she's done it before.

Okay, so my curiousity got the better of me and I just HAD to check both posters photos. I see which ones much be causing the issue, as they each have a few identical photos posted . I can also see how the photo editing matches all of the other photos of one member .

Shill, you took the pictures of cakes YOU decorated then you CAN do whatever the heck you want with them. OP you have no right to HER pictures.....sorry.

I am sorry for the error with posting, your right about he said,she said. I am going to put this to bed. Thank-you for all your help in this matter. It can get a little intense.

Okay.. I really appreciate the support but there's a fine line between support and things getting out of hand.

The OP might have used bad judgment but that doesn't make her a bad person. I felt the need to clarify a few issues but they have been clarified.

Despite all the issues that arose when I worked at the bakery. I really did like who I worked for. Which is one of the reason's I found it so hard to cut ties and go a different direction.

We all make mistakes. Myself included. It doesn't make us bad and it certainly doesn't mean we should be attacked. Hopefully it means we've learned something and we can go forward as wiser individuals.

How many of you got a PM from towncrierbakery the other day?

And since they won't let it drop, here's something I've been wondering about...

Do you remember that awesome jacket cake that Shill made a while back? This is her description of it:

And then a few months later we read that she's getting in trouble because it's taking too long for her to finish a cake.

This is the PM that I got from towncrierbakery and I bet a bunch of you got it too:

It sounds like in the beginning they wanted to draw customers in with the really showy cakes and then once they started getting customers for them, then wanted those cakes churned out like sheet cakes at a Walmart. Detail takes time...and the time issue was discussed to death in the other thread, not bringing it up here, but what's up with not caring how long it took before, then it being the central issue now?

And I don't understand the point in advertising using those photos if no one working there now can make the cakes?

You know what works REALLY WELL? Talking things out in person, face to face. NOT airing grievances on the internet, being passive aggressive, and trying to stir up drama.

CustomCakery: Kudos to you for your attitude in all of this.

My take on this whole situation is....town crier bakery is no longer employing this decorator therefore they won't be able to offer her cakes any longer.

The employee decorated those cakes and took pictures of them therefore she should be able to post them on her site. It is HER work, not the work of town crier bakery.

I say put YOUR pictures of YOUR decorated cakes back on YOUR site.