i have seen several post on here about copyright problems and questions. recently someone posted a comment saying not to worry about it that big companies are not going to care, well just to let you know i live in a very very small town in georgia and a very small church in my commuity ( less than 200 people) had a bake sale , they used pillsbury cookie dough to make the cookies for the sale. no big deal right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they were contacted by someone at pillsbury and told that they could not sell their cookies since it was made by pillsbury. the church took money and went to the store and bought a couple of cases of dough and this was the only cookies they were selling. there was no fine this time but they were told they would be sued if there was a next time. they have no idea how pillsbury found out. just wanted to let people know that the big companies DO CARE!!!!

Wow! I knew copyrighted characters were a problem, but I never thought about issues with pre-made cookie dough being baked and sold. If that's a problem, wouldn't baking a cake from a boxed mix and then selling it be the same thing??

Yes they do, and so do major universities. When April 16th happened I wanted to do something to contribute to the Virginia Tech memorial fund (since I am a Hokie myself). I created mini Hokie Hope cakes and was giving all of the profits to Virginia Tech. I was contacted via email from someone at Tech that they saw my website and that I wasn't allowed to sell those cakes because the work "Hokie" is copyrighted. I was devastated. I asked if I could sell the cakes if I took the word Hokie off and just made "Hope" cakes and he said I could. There is a picture still on my website of these hope cakes. I did sell a lot and in the end was able to contribute to the memorial fund.

gacandle

where in GA are you? I saw advertisements for several church bake sales in my area this past weekend.

are you sure you weren't being punked?

pillsbury sells all kinds of products to sell retail...even pre baked cakes and 50 pound bags of cake mix.

this is the most crazy thing i ever heard.

That sounds weird...I dont think Pillsbury would do that. They sell cake mixes for companies to do cakes...Are they going to call the company to tell them they can't sell the cakes cause is Pillsbury?..
Something is not right..I would call the company!
Edna

PS...*waves hi to Laura*

http://pillsburybakery.com/Products/Category.aspx?categoryId=28

you were being punked...heres the wholesale cookie page...from pillsbury, what do they care if you buy it wholesale or retail and resell?

Sounds to me someone doesnt like the church to make money..

sounds like one of the church ladies wanted to use her own recipe instead of buying stuff from the store.

it's really absurd.

churches are like a business...they have a tax number and are tax exempt.

this is how urban legends start.

i am not a member of the church that this happened at, but several people in my neighborhood are and i was told by two different people that they were stopped. the only thing i can think of is that they avertised the cookies as pillsbury cookies. But i am sure that it happened. the elderly lady from the church was upset and the 50 year old man was upset. i am sure they would not lie to me about this.

I think this sounds fishing too! Do you know how Pillsbury knew about that they were even using their cookies. Did they advertise "Pillsbury cookies" on their flyers or in an advertisement? I'm very curious about this!

Something about this doesnt sound right to me either. How would any restaurant, caterer etc be able to sell any food??

I call B.S...

If anything it was they were advertising as Pillsbury Cookies. Not that they were selling pillsbury cookie dough. If that was the case, it would go for anything you buy to put in your cakes, cookies woudn't it?

I think that if the cookies were advertised as being Pillsbury cookies, then Pillsbury might have an issue with this. It's all in the legalities of it. Pillsbury probably did not want to be liable for the "end product". Since they were not the ones baking it and dont know how it was handled.

Who knows they might be doing searches in papers and places online to see when and where their name is used and this add might have poped up.

So it could all be legal mumbo jumbo to us but very liable to them. I have a friend I will inquire to.

I will let you know if I find anything.

It had to be because they used the word Pillsbury in the ad. If not, how many school bake sales, church sales, and other types of bakes sales will they have to shut down. Not everyone bakes from scratch and many people bake only from "tube" cookie dough.

Thats crazy! Sounds very fishy, unless because they used the name for advertising!

i am very sorry now that i posted anything about this i heard what had happened and thought other people may what to know about it since there have been several questions on this site about copy rights i think the comments about B.S. were uncalled for. i thought this was a friendly site that people could post concerns about baking on. i guess i was wrong. i will try to find a site that is friendly to view from now on. sorry again for the post wish i could take it off.

There are many people who post on here about things that happen to "a friend of a friend" or a "local bakery", etc. but I have seen not one who could actually produce a name or verifiable information. And in my opinion, it makes those who are earning a living in this line of work needlessly paranoid. I would never post information as fact without knowing for certain that it was indeed fact. At this point, the only information you have is hearsay.

This is not personal. Please don't take it as such.

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MAKE THAT CAPE PINK WITH GLITTER!!!!!

Brandi, I couldn't have said it better myself!....I think that's why all this paranoia drives me to madness....it's freaking hard enough to try to do business without everyone being scared of everything.....

gacandle, i sure didn't mean anything personal to you,
by the time the stories get told over and over again....it's kinda like that "oreo cakester" commercial ...things get twisted around.

i'm so wore out with this legal stuff....I WILL NOT POST TO IT AGAIN....i swear!