Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriekailee
sorry, I don't know how you reply with the quote inside it.
To me the line is drawn when this is being made by people for their own use. Not to advance their business, whether you pay for it or not. And I am not a mom! But I think when you have paid money to buy their products and you want your child to have a cake like the toys they have, that is fine. If everyone knows you personally made it, why is that affecting the integrity of the trademark? They are having fun, giving their child something to remember. Have we all forgotten the part of enjoying life! Please, understand. I am not refering to people selling cakes with the trademark infringement. I am only talking about the personall use. Isn't that why all of us post our pictures on this site??? To show others what we have done to share with them?? provide ideas for others?? why is that a bad thing if you are not taking money away from them??
To quote a post look at the top right of the message you want to quote and you will see a little quote button--click it it will include it.
How is it that you are not taking money from them? If you want to make a Buzz Lightyear cake you can buy the licensed character pan or a DecoPac (I am assuming there is one). The holders of the copyright have been paid already for the pan. You buy it you make the cake for personal use--they have gotten their royalty. You decide hey I want to make a Buzz Lightyear cake I can frozen butter cream transfer or make him out of chocolate---you are not paying a royalty to Disney like you would if you used the character pan. Hence you are taking money away from them--it is the same if you walk over to your neighbors house and rip their Disney DvDs. You would not be purchasing a product for which they receive a royalty.
There is no personal use exception and your self-designed cake would not qualify as a fair use exception. And whether or not you take money from them is technically irrelevant as you do not have the right to profit (in its widest sense) from the work of others (even if this profit is a happy child). It is not unfair, it is not your intellectual property. Folks cannot come of the street randomly and enter your residence, you cannot just decide to use someone else's creation.
And I do not understand why people keep insist on using giving your child something to remember as a reason to justify making your own character cake. There are plenty of ways to make character cakes where the holder of the copyright gets compensated and you get to give the child the birthday of their dreams. These are not mutually exclusive. If you want that birthday, then you have to pay, including for the cake. No one is saying you cannot have the character cake, you just cannot have it because you do not feel you should have to pay for the right to use someone else's intellectual property.
Oh and just to be clear I am not saying you should not make the cake for the child. I am merely just trying to clarify what is and what is not a violation. I am simply saying there is a risk to doing it. Realistically there is little to be gained from them going after the parents who decided to make a character cake for their child. But Disney could come after you. I am also not saying it is okay to make the cake--just be aware that it is an infringement and would you want that to happen to your work?
