My aunt works for a lawyers firm and I asked her this exact question before I put up the picture of the Dora and Barbie cakes on my website.

If there is ever a problem the company will contact you in writting first. They have ways just like the police department does, to get your name and address thru your ISP. All they'd have to do is present their case to the judge, get the warrant for the info, and get the info from the ISP.

But she also told me there is no reason to be scared because I didn't accept payment for either of those cakes. They were made for FAMILY FUNCTIONS IN WHICH I ATTENDED!!!! (keep that inmind!!! for future refs ) As long as you do not profit off the item it's allowed because if it weren't they wouldn't sell the pans You already paid your price... you bought the pan from Wilton or whomever, who inturn had to pay Matel, Disney, or whomever for use and production of that pan, so with every pan that sells they have to pay a portion to said "owner". You've already paid for using the pan since you didn't charge for the cake you did no wrong.

Also keep in mind any lawyer, that is REAL, will go thru everything possible to get a physical/mailing address for you, even if it means offering up a fake order just to get your contact details

Besides which...just who are they representing in claiming the infringement? That's the party that needs to be satisfied that nothing untowards happened regarding their copyright. I'd wanna know who it is before I waste my time on it.

I cannot see any lawyer, especially one who is retained by a company, sending you a letter via Email, it is just too unprofessional. You have done nothing wrong, for the record why is it not allowed to post pictures of Wiltons Character cakes, why do they sell the pans if you can't show what you made with it ? This does not make any sense to me, has anyone ever contacted Wiltons, I would say that if the pans are trademarked, then that would mean don't manufacture a copy of the actual pan. regarding logos etc, even Duff makes cakes , like Starbucks, Netflix etc. I would be very interested to know more about this.

danar~
Law firms do not use email for offical contact. They use their stationary with their letterhead in their envelope with their return address on it. And its really nice paper too!!
If you were in violation of copyright infrigement the Law Firm would have an investigator find out about you and you would be mailed a "packet" that would state their displeasure with your use of their logo and telling you to basically knock it off or pay up. Especially, since you would have been investigated before hand they would have known you do this as a hobby.

So, that being said, I hope you haven't given out any personal information to this "bogus" law firm who emailed you. Someone is messing with your mind, and I am sorry you freaked out. Take a breath and relax. They were not lawyers.

Ronni

Danar, they are all correct above. NEVER heard of lawyers operating through e-mail (used to be paralegal). Did not notice the first time that this was done via e-mail. Lawyers know that proper notice is only done via certified mail. Definitely check this out before giving any personal info to them! Good luck!
Sweetiemama

I agree with superstar, because, they sell Character cakes pans., I do cakes with Disney characters, as Little Mermaid, I found a Little Mermaid candle at Michaels, and I put on the top of my two tiered cakes, I decorate with shells made for me, with seaweeds made dor me, little fishes, and crab made for me, and that is not correct???.... Can I have problems with Disney company for that cake????

Well in the email, it said it was just an email to inform me a certified letter would be coming. There was an attachment that contained the letter that is being mailed out. So we will see if it comes or not. It said I would have to sign for it.
I've already removed the picture and my email address from my site. It really ticks me off that the host site would give out my information. Isn't that against some privacy acts....or maybe they got it another way.

It wasn't a Wilton pan. It was a round pan that I free-handed the logo onto, then had a fondant figure on top.

Thank you all so much for the encouraging workds and advice. You are all like a bunch of girlfriends there to lend supports!

My lawyer and I do most of our corresponding via email. Any legal documents are emailed, followed by a hard copy. Error on the side of caution and check him out.

I agree... watch out for spam! Don't reply unless you know that it is a physical attorney in your area otherwise DELETE!

The second time I read this major red flags went up ... sounds like a scam/fraud. I would not send any information until you talk to a laywer ... or just take the picture off and don't worrry about it. It could be any one. I'll pray it all goes well!!

Free handed a logo of what? I hate to be a stink but were the colors dead on? If not then it was changed and if it was changed by more than 20%? (I think, help me out here ladies) then you have nothing to worry about.
I have had stuff stolen from me all the time and all the person had to do was just change it just enough and it ceased to be mine, even though it was copyrighted. Peeved me to no end. This is why I asked how good are you at free handing your design and colors. I know you were probably dead on...wink!

And just so you know I am on your side!!
Ronni

So does this mean it is illegal to do fbct or freehand cut out a cake say in the shape of mickey mouse ? I mean where do they draw the line? So if we do a cake and the person loves a certain sports team is that also an infringement? I mean we'd be out of ideas unless we stick to normal shaped cakes lol If you make a cake for someone's retirement at a certain company and use their logo can they turn around and sue you because you didnt ask for permission Sheeeesh like they say the rich get richer off the backs of us hard working slugs. lol

I hate this has happened to you. I am a worry wart and would just be sick if it were me. I agree that it sounds kind of strange.
Is it illegal to do free hand work like this! I know about the copyright pans, but free hand?? If companies really wanted to get people I think they would just look on this site. Lord knows what they could get us with!! This scares me. I will be praying for you. Just giveit to God,as someone else said.

Also, I would check with the better business bureau to see if the lawyer is legit.

Good point about Duff and other cake "stars" using trademarked material... I'm thinking of Mike's Amazing Fritos or Confetti Cakes' Campbell's Soup can cakes. Somehow I doubt those companies harassed them... sorta like the Budweiser bathing suits only being made up to size 8 lol.

It's weird they'd have your home address, so I wonder if they were tipped off by your website host. I have a friend in Toledo and the major cable company there scanned everybody's computers for "bootleg" downloaded music. They all got the legal letter ordering them to remove it. That's creepy.

You've done your part by removing the "offensive" cake from your website. It's a bonus that you never posted prices, so don't worry. But DO send them a WRITTEN reply by registered mail with a return receipt required ~ it sucks that you will be out that expense, but it's money well spent to get them off your back.

You'll know it's a scam if you suddenly hear from another lawyer that just happens to defend cases like yours.

Good luck!

I read that you opened an attachment on the email. I would immediately run a virus and spyware scan on your entire computer! Attachments from unknown sources are how worms, viruses, and spyware are spread.

~adknight

I believe Duff's cake of a Campbell's can was because they were sponsored by Campbells on season 2 and Mike's Fritos cake was made for Fritos as a "thank you" for a partnership (??). So if I'm not mistaken, this cakes were made for the companies. As per their request, I believe...

I don't mean to start a riot or anything so please don't take it the wrong way... as for your cake and the lawyer's letter, first, as I said before, if it is legit, then since you didn't make any $$$ off it, then they have nothing against you, and if it is a scam, beware, I would go seek legal advice in my area. Again, good luck!!

United States Copyright Act, Section 101 (can be found at www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/index.html)
The creator of the work is usually the author. However, in two situations known as Works for Hire, (s)he is not the author. If an employee creates work as part of employment for an employer, it is considered to be work of the employer. (IE, if you are hired by a corporation to make a cake with a corporate logo, you are safe, since the work is for the corporation).
The other situation refers to commissions, such as in fine art. While cake decorating is an art, I can't see this stipulation being used here.

United States Copyright Act, Title 17, Section 5 (The following is taken from Smith & Robersons Business Law, 13e)
Infringement needs not be intentional. The plaintiff only needs to show that he owns the copyright, and that the defendant violated the plaintiff's exclusive rights. Proof of ownership includes showing that the work is substaintially similar and that the defendent had access to the copyrighted work. Notice that substaintially is not defined - this is usually left to the courts.

Copyrights may be transferred. For instance, if you are hired for a mickey mouse cake, you can contact the legal department at disney and gain permission to make the cake, assuming that you are not using a character shaped pan. This may seem a little extreme. However, if you believe you will be doing alot of character cakes, and feel that you should protect yourself, I would go to your lawyer, get a letter drawn up stating your intention, and mail it to the copyright holders. Please note that all the major characters are held by corporations, not their original designers (see first paragraph).

I am a senior business and accounting major, and have just finished a year of business law. However, that does not make me a lawyer. (thats my disclaimer and i'm stickin to it).

To adress your ISP company giving out your information to people....it is public record when you purchase a domain name. You just go to an internet domain name seller and do a WHOIS search. You can look up the information that was presented when registered. Generally it is contact name, number and address.

God luck with your lettter though...

Julia

Sounds like spam to me. Don't reply in any way. See what happens.
Judy

I agree with the others, lawyers would contact you through mail..registered or certified. right now we are dealing with a real stupid HOA issue and the lawyer contacted homeowners through certified mail

Could someone you know be playing a trick on you? I've never heard of anyone being contacted by email by a lawyer. I could picture the scenario in the jailhouse:
Criminal: "I whacked a bunch of people for looking at me wrong, whatcha' in for?"
Baker: "Making a copywrite cake, now beat it!"
I just don't see it happening.

I would wait and see if they contact you again, if they try again by email, request that they send you a formal letter explaining the situation. When (IF) they send it to you, look them up and find out if they are legit. Who knows, they might be scanners or a real bad friend playing a joke on you.

I would like to know.....if you have a licensed bakery and you purchased the licensed characters such as Disney, Barbie, Dora, Spiderman, etc. and use them on your cakes for sale, would that be legal? I have a DecoPac catalog and they sell the licensed character figurines but they advised me that those are only sold to a licensed bakery. Also, I noticed that places like Michael's and Party Supermarket sells some of the characters but I assume those are made for home use.

I am so sorry.....
I wonder if all the cakes made with "Chanel, Louis Vuitton etc...is accecptable? Looking at the Gallery pages there are many company names mentioned on cakes.

Yes, Duff did the Campbell soup can for the actual company and Frito Lay was thanking Riba Macantire (I know Im not spelling it correctly!) for her part in a group of commercials she did for them and gave her that cake from Mike's Amazing Cakes.
It really gets down to the company and how picky they want to be. Because according to copyright law you cant even post any likeness of a character without it infringing on it. Even if you didnt make money off of it. If you show the cake on your website of what you could do, you can get into trouble. I myself could too even though the Dora cookies, and all the other licensed pictures Ive made cakes out of where given to my family for their birthdays. Just the fact that I have them I guess.

It seems to me that if the cake was for "personal use" (meaning you didn't charge) and there were no "damages" I think a court would have a pretty tough time awarding a settlement. Also it would probably be more costly for them to pursue litigation than any potential award. I think what they really want is for you not to copy it again.

Good luck.

The first thing a lawyer would do is send you a cease-and -desist letter--meaning, remove the picture from your website, and if you don't, then further legal action will happen. And as someone else said, they wouldn't do it via e-mail. It doesn't sound real, but maybe it's some overzealous newbie corporate lawyer who thinks he's going to kiss butt with his higher-ups by making someone scared to use a licensed character snet the e-mail. I used to work in the licensing dept. of a major corporation, and we never bothered with small stuff like this. I'd just take the picture off and tell them what everyone has beens saying - it's a hobby, you made no money off of it. Good luck.

Laura

Geesh, I just did an American Idol cake for a 9 year old with their logo on it and I sure would hate for Simon to come after me!!! Maybe I should remove it from my gallery! Then again, like others have said, alot of cake pics should be taken down because there are thousands of cakes in the gallery with copyrighted logos, trademarks, etc. on them!! What's a cake decorator to do???

Well if this isn't the hands down dangdest (sp) thing I have seen in awhile!!! So, now we have to sweat about what we put on our flippin cakes!!! For crying out loud, people need to find something to do to occupy their time!!! This whole thing sounds fishy to me...but just in case this is real...I'd not do another thing until I spoke with the family lawyer. I have a feeling we will all be laughing about this later...but I am going to be darned sure I don't put anything of anyone's on one of my cakes...GOOD-GRIEF!!!! Good luck to ya...Linda

************UPDATE******************

So I got another email and I think it's all going to be fine. Whether it was a scam or not, I don't think so. I looked up the firm that the letter was from and it's legit, but we will see if I receive the certified letter or not.

Anyway, the email I got back from them just said that as long as I remove the image from my site and write something to them assuring that I will not sell cakes in the future with their logo/trademark, then it would be fine. They said I could just send it in an email. I printed copies of everything and am going to hold onto it and see what happens but it sounds like a done deal.

Boy, that was a stressful afternoon. I'm sure I was lucky and it ended quickly but it was an eye opener. And just so you all are aware, it was a Webkinz cake.

Thanks to all for your support!!