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question on copyrights

post #1 of 20
10/13/10 at 8:02pm
Thread Starter 
Hi,
I'd love to know where to find information about licensed characters. I don't have a business running yet, but I hope to work up to that. My friend wants me to do a cake with the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service. I'm not sure where to start to get permission to do that. Any advice would be great!
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post #2 of 20
10/13/10 at 8:16pm
If you don't have a legal business and you're not accepting money (or any form of compensation) for the cake, you should be OK as long as you don't post a picture of the cake that can be traced back to you. Technically it's illegal, but the risk in this transaction is virtually nonexistent.
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Recent Articles: The Magic Pricing Formula • Copyright Law
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The Bakery Business Perspective
An experimental blog with new content every Tuesday!

Recent Articles: The Magic Pricing Formula • Copyright Law
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post #3 of 20
10/14/10 at 5:54am
you can purchase toys for copyrighted characters or "cake kits" from Bakery Crafts or DecoPac, but will need a business with tax ID number to order licensed character items from these two supliers. But i have also seen some online stores carry them, i thin www.oasissupply.com has them.

It is illegal to recreate the licensed image without written consent from the copyright holder.

Since i'm guessing there are not toys of this particular cat you would have to search who is the copyright holder and contact them, a google search should be able to get you that answer.

maybe the info is here on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiki's_Delivery_Service
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post #4 of 20
10/14/10 at 6:23am
Contact the company that the character comes from.
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post #5 of 20
10/14/10 at 7:37am
Thread Starter 
ok, so the movie was originally released in Japan, but in the US it was distributed by Disney. Has anyone worked with Disney before? Who do I contact?
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post #6 of 20
10/14/10 at 9:44am
Disney is a big fat NO. I have NEVER heard of them giving a copyright release.

In general, the best thing to do is to find the official website, go to the bottom and there is usually a LEGAL page, click there and contact the attorneys. They can point you in the right direction.
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Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket.

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post #7 of 20
10/14/10 at 11:33am
Thread Starter 
Thanks everyone.
My friend and I agreed that a generic black cat would be good enough. That's not copyrighted, right?
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post #8 of 20
10/14/10 at 12:13pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks everyone.
My friend and I agreed that a generic black cat would be good enough. That's not copyrighted, right?
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post #9 of 20
10/15/10 at 7:36am
Thread Starter 
I'm a little confused -
I see lots of cakes based off other designs... Star Wars cakes, Toy Story Cakes, board game cakes... do all of these people get permission, or are they risking lawsuits?
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post #10 of 20
10/15/10 at 8:33am
You can make a character cake for your own child (or a friend's child) without a problem, so that accounts for some of the character cakes on CC.

Also, you can sell a plain cake and have the recipient place a purchased character figurine on top of it.

If anyone is selling character cakes where they have created the character out of gumpaste or drawn the character's image on a cake they offered for sale, it is indeed illegal.

Some people are unaware of this, however, so they may be doing it without realizing it's illegal.
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post #11 of 20
10/15/10 at 8:42am
Thread Starter 
But...
Confetti Cakes has a Monopoly cake on their website.
Charm City Cakes has several Star Wars cakes, and a Wonder Woman cake
I've seen grooms cakes with Nintendo characters...
Obviously these are intended for sale...
Is it that easy to get permission?

If there is a better place to be looking for this information, please let me know!
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post #12 of 20
10/15/10 at 8:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ellyane

But...
Confetti Cakes has a Monopoly cake on their website.
Charm City Cakes has several Star Wars cakes, and a Wonder Woman cake
I've seen grooms cakes with Nintendo characters...
Obviously these are intended for sale...
Is it that easy to get permission?

If there is a better place to be looking for this information, please let me know!



Generally speaking it's not easy to get permission, but it depends on the image you want to recreate. Forget about Disney and pretty much the Nick characters, too.
Many decorators do it without permission. I always have the client purchase the figures to put on top.

With Confetti Cakes and CCC - You are talking about big name cake decorators. Something tells me it's a heck of a lot easier for them to obtain permission. icon_rolleyes.gificon_wink.gif
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post #13 of 20
10/15/10 at 9:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cakesbycathy

With Confetti Cakes and CCC - You are talking about big name cake decorators. Something tells me it's a heck of a lot easier for them to obtain permission. icon_rolleyes.gificon_wink.gif



Plus they're doing those cakes for the copyright holder most of the time too, so they're willing to give permission for that. Or at least the first time they do them. For all we know they still have to pay royalty fees to the copyright holder when doing them for other people, we don't know what their agreement is with the copyright holders.
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post #14 of 20
10/24/10 at 2:53pm
The bakeries where I live (in SW MO) make licensed character cakes all the time. Just because it's illegal doesn't mean it doesn't still happen. My guess is that either they don't realize it's wrong or they do, but think they won't ever get in trouble for it. I'm a total rule follower, so I just don't do it- period. Usually there are ways to work around it by designing something similar.

Along the same lines- using the character shaped cake pans and printing out pictures of licensed characters, copyrighted artwork/photos are a big no-no if you are selling cakes!!! The edible icing sheets with copyrighted images are such a pet peeve of mine!!!

This link is helpful: http://sdbytracy.com/copyrules.htm
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post #15 of 20
10/24/10 at 6:59pm
I have read alot of the threads on here about copyrights, but I am still not clear on the edible images (I think they are made by Lucks) that you can buy at the cake supply stores, can you use them on cakes to sell? I just didn't know if since you are buying them from a retailer and they are selling them are they only for home use also?
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