I'm sure there's already a very long thread somewhere addressing this issue. I constantly tell customers that I cannot recreate any licensed/copyrighted image in cake; but then you get online and they're all over the place! Is there something I'm missing? I hate declining customer requests.

Just because a cake is done doesn't mean it is sold. So just note because you see a cake on here it doesn't mean that the person always sold it.

If you are seeing them in business sites then chances are they are a. doing it illegally (either knowing or not knowing so) or b. they have contacted the companys and gotten premission.

That's what I thought. And I can't even begin go imagine what a pain in the a** it would be to contact the companies.

I recently did a "Cinderella" cake. I made the entire scene with the carriage, the grass, the stone path.... and the person I made it for supplied her own Cinderella doll which was put on by her after I gave her the cake.

I will say that colleges/universities are very nice about it. I ask the grooms to get the permission and not a one has ever been refused. In fact the school's PR dept is impressed that he's actually asking. They just grant a "one time se" permission.

A lot of pro sports teams will also give permission for a limited number of cakes per year, but they generally don't want you to use the cakes on your website or for advertising purposes. So if you do see those as examples of something someone is selling, they're probably being done illegally. I have a file full of permission letters from colleges and sports teams, and they all have slightly different restrictions.

I've posted about this before but here's a refresher.

I'm an illustrator/designer for a children's book publishing company. We have specific copyrighted characters in our books and I know that if you had one of our characters on your website or sitting in your bakery window and my publisher saw it you would get a 'cease and desist' notice. BUT if he knew you were doing a cake for a client but you weren't going to use it on your site or as a promo piece he'd be fine with it.

It's when you sell someone else's creation as your own or use it for your own promotional purposes that people tend to get upset. For the most part no one will say anything if you keep it on the down low.

Thanks for reposting for me SallyBratt. I know this topic is somewhere in the archives, but I don't have time to search through all of them.

does anyone know for sure wether its ok to do a character cake if you put a brought toy on it and theme the cake around it?

Copyright laws should be taken seriously.
There's a local baker here who's (beautiful) website has lots of cakes with themes/characters that are copyright protected. They have a note saying they can "make any cake from any theme" with prices listed. To me, this is risky business... The fines are just not worth it to me. If I can't get permission adn they want more than a "kit cake", I don't accept the order.

I think you can place purchased toys on a cake... please correct me if I'm wrong...you just can't make them out of sugar or draw or carve them for profit.

I don't put any characters on my cakes. I do the scenery and then give the cake to the buyer that way. If they put a doll on it, that's on them. I can't be held responsible for what someone else did AFTER I gave them the cake.

i was wondering about this too.. what about logos? etc like on purse cakes etc

Can't do those legally either. Correction - not for sale anyway.

Thank you SOOO much. I am so glad this is all reposted. I just created a post about this and wasn't getting any interest yet. Thank you so much. Just like the originator I also see tons of cakes on this website and others and was wondering the same thing. I am aware of Disney being kind of strict but it makes me happy to know that you can call and ask other places with some success.

it's always better safe than sorry.

here is a link about the other post on licensing/disney characters.

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6731753.html

There's an all in one(cake decorator, wedding planner, rentals, etc) in my area that on her web site has TON'S of Wilton character pan cakes offered. Even brags "Choose from one of our many character cake pans and let us make you a custom cake!" I feel like saying "um they're not YOUR cake pans their Wiltons. I'm really not an obsessive play by the rules person but when you're a business and you have it blatantly advertised on your website that you pretty much don't give a rat's a$$ about the legality of what your doing, it annoys me. So obnoxious. Btw, I'm just a hobbyist and don't take money for my cakes, maybe someday when I'm good enough I'll open my own shop. Legally.

I've noticed that several of the character pans on Wilton's website now have a disclosure stating that the pans are for home use only.

That notice has always been printed on the pans, but putting it on the website is new.

Jeep-girl, maybe you should forward that "home use notice" on the wilton pans to that bakery.

Rose_N_Crantz

Hi, I just wanted to mention that I love your avatar! I can almost hear his voice...very silly.

So those character pans cannot be sold to customers in a business? I heard people say they are "selling the cake board and not the cake." How is that tackled? Is that ok?

That's what I thought... thanks for your insight!

Semantics applied to "the law" does not hold up in court.

Is there a way to obtain permission? How do the bakeries on the cake shows get licensing permission. I realize they get orders from the company directly but how do they permission for an individual? I was also told (after I made cakes for my kids) that it didn't matter if it was sold or not. That even the ones I have done for my kids could get me in trouble. I don't post the pics on my website and was hesitant to post them here.