What about the edible images that you buy from lucks. Can we use them? I have the same book as DQ and walmart that customers also choose from.

I've been searching for an answer on this topic since I started selling cakes and have never received a straight answer. It's legal, so I guess it's bound to be confusing.
One of our local TV news stations has an "Ask the Laywer" section once a week. I wrote in a list of questions on this topic; does copyright/trademark infringement just cover exact copies? Is drawing (freehand) in frosting considered copying? What if I make a Tigger but make him blue? etc. The answer to each. "It depends." She basically said there were too many variables, and each case would have to be looked at independently.
The best advice seems to be if in doubt, don't do it.

OK, so I sat and read every single post on this matter so far. I don't really know much about this but I sure did learn a lot. As far as the tiffany box... I can't make a blue box with a bow on it if is a few shades off? As for the "cookie bouquets" What am I suppose to call them??? cookies on sticks. I'm not trying to go against copyright laws or anything but if I made a cake, I'm not claiming that I created the character but yes I did create the design of the cake (not using the character pans of course)
What about freehand work. I can't draw a picture of Bart Simpson???
I guess I'm just confused about the whole thing.

I don't see how Tiffany could copyright the actual light blue-teal color that they call Tiffany Blue. Colors aren't man-made, they're made by light and nature and they're all there in the color wheel, you can't prohibit other people from using it. The problem would be if you made a cake that a jury would recognize as a Tiffany Box. However, I personally wouldn't worry as much about this one as I would about Disney characters.

Bart Simpson is a copyrighted character, you can't reproduce him in any manner for profit.

Okay - it is my understanding (and I have worked in a bakery that practiced this) for instance: We do a lot of cakes with the edible images on them A LOT, and the owner probably does about 80% of them in characters from tv. She was told or at least tells me that it is illegal if we are selling that image but we are selling the cake. The cake would cost $30 with a picture of Shrek on it and it would still cost $30.00 if we put icing roses on it. She will not sell just an edible image of a character because then we are selling the copyrighted character. But when put on a cake we are giving that to them and charging them for the decorated cake. Any thoughts on this???

When you purchase edible images...Lucks or from any licensed vendor...Bakerycrafts...DecoPac...and others...you have the right to use it. You can NOT, however, snag an image off the 'puter and print it off and use it.

Some bakeries buy their copyrighted stuff from these licensed vendors and resell them. Some of the bakeries don't have the license required to resell them and are thereby in default of the law.

Sam's buys poptops and images in bulk to use on their cakes. They do NOT have the right to sell them though. They have the right to use them on a cake as described and approved by the license holder...Decopac/Bakerycrafts/Lucks

I worked in a bakery where we had an edible image printer made by decopac. We could buy the rights to use Disney pictures. which they put out. You purchased a disk which had the pictures on it. The disk came with a key which you had to use each time you printed a picture. The disk had a certain number of pictures on it. When you had printed that number of pictures it was empty and you could no longer use it and had to buy a new disk. (It was something like 12 pictures.) That was how you paid the fees for using the pictures.

Is it feasable for someone that does cakes sometiems to buy an image froma place like lucks? (which btw i have no idea what lucks is)

yes. Just locate a licensed vendor...Lucks items are sold and numerous places.

The way I see it, a trademark and a copyright is two different things. An item can be trademarked Levi's pocket design for instance...which means that I can not design a pair of buttonfly britches and put that design on the pocket...BUT...depending on the extent of the trademark, I can make a cake with that design on it because I am not in direct competition with Levi's...if the design is copyrighted though, I can't use it on anything without their permission

http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Trademark

I remember reading of a company that used the same type of "C" that is used by Coca-Cola (the one in the word "Coca"). It was not a soft drink company. And Coca Cola won the lawsuit because this it was a trademarked signature.

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/tmlaw2.html#_Toc52343999


There are different levels of classification of trademarking....a registrant must list EVERY item and way that the proposed trademark will be used

Wow, this copyright stuff can be so very confusing. I really want to open my own bakery but my goodness, what a headache it can cause.

If someone uses a trademark in a manner that is deemed defamatory the offending party will most likely have to pay some sort of restitution.

The coca cola story reminds me of another - DH was telling me that "Auto Shack" had to change their name because Radio Shack sued them - apparently one can now own a word...am I the only one who thinks this is all just a bit ridiculous?

Hi fellow CCers. This topic has caused me the most headache, and as a lawyer myself (just not a copyright one), I have researched and researched to find an answer (to no avail). Now I'm NOT giving legal advice here (there's my legal disclaimer), and I don't think the answer is clear. But if you take this to the extreme, you cannot use any copyrighted image (invitation, company logos, sports teams, tiffany boxes, luis vuitton purses, jimmy choo shoes, etc.). And it's so easy to copyright something. All you have to do is say "this is copyrighted (c) 2007 by xxx." What copyright law is truly intended to preclude is, to give an extreme example, mass producing mickey mouse t-shirts and selling them for profit.

You see, it is copyright infringement to make use of a copyrighted image for your own profit, gain, etc. Images can be used for documentary, education, and other "fair use" purposes. So my issue has been, I'm not "marketing" the ability to recreate characters, I'm not using the image for profit, so to speak, and my pricing does not change if a licensed character is utilized or not - people are purchasing my creation. A good deal of it, as I understand it, has to do with utilizing an image in a manner that competes with the owner of the copyright so that their profits are impacted by the infringing usage (thus, the mickey mouse t shirt example).

Now, with all this said, I think it's yet to be seen whether use of a copyrighted image on a birthday cake is an infringing activity. I would argue that it was not. However, I do not market them and do not have any on my website. Further, I avoid doing them mostly (except usually for good friends). But if recreating them (fbct, e.g) is a violation, then I'm not convinced that purchasing a cake topper (or other toy) and reselling as part of your cake is not one also (b/c again, you are not sharing your profit for the character cake with Disney, eg).

Sorry for the long post - just wanted to chime in on this very troubling subject.

Not saying two wrongs make a right at all... and I will only be making licensed character cakes with plastic figures purchased separately by the customer when I am a business..

but just to throw this out there..... has anyone looked up a licensed character on ebay???? Type in any name.. any at all.. and you will get pages upon pages of people recreating images on their home computers.... invitations, personalized pictures, clocks, shirts..... you name it someone's making it...I even found little einstein cake toppers the other day... simply laminated printed pics on a stick.

so why are the sellers and ebay not being sued by Disney, etc for making profit off of illegally recreated characters?????? ebay charges fees so they are making money off of them... the sellers are making money by basically stealing images off of websites and reprinting them....

Whenever this issue comes up this is what I think of.... here we all are freaking out about it all and understandably so... but I think there are a lot bigger issues for companies to deal with.... if you go after one person don't you have to go after everyone???? I would think there would be some legal leg to stand on if a cake decorator was taken to court over this and they could point out 500 other examples of copyright infringement... how could they justify going after who they feel like it and not everyone... and they can't really deny knowing that ebay exists. LOL

I don't know... I have NO legal expertise... but something about it all doesn't seem right.

very true... but ebay is ONE HUGE fish. LOL
with all the sellers info at their fingertips.

I have read so many stories on here about disney doing "mystery calls" to cake decorators to catch them in the act so to speak...and a one person cake company losing their business and being sued for thousands upon thousands of dollars over one cake.... yet all the hundreds of sellers on ebay doing this same thing only nonedible and ebay themselves are left alone?????

again, not saying two wrongs make a right nor do I plan on using it as an argument to make cakes that I know are a copyright issue.... but it falls into my category of things that make you go hmmmm. LOL

I'd have to pull it back out again to quote it verbatim, but I do believe it simply states you can not duplicate, copy, blah blah blah whatever it is in any way....it doesn't say once you buy it you are stuck with it. why wouldn't you be able to resell it??? That would mean that even a lowly garage sale would be infringing if I made a profit and the ad for the sale read something like this:

Garage Sale- Saturday-June 16th-Many collectibles-Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and a lot more!


I used the character names to help promote my sale and I sold the items for a profit.

This is what I understand what you are saying to mean.

The information I shared is accurate information. You can use the purchased items for decorations on a cake.

They just can't be duplicated. Even if you change the colors(tigger from orange to blue) if the rendering of the copyrighted item can be identified as the original "oh, looooooooook! It's blue Tigger!!!"

Oh my! and we'd be forever forced to use the 1/2 dolls for the doll cakes...Oh the horror!

All4Cake - Please don't get me wrong - I don't know the answer here. All I know is that it's not black & white, and I'm not convinced that IF it is an infringement to reproduce an image on the top of a cake that reselling a cake topper or toy on your cake is not likewise an infringement of someone else's property rights. It's not the same as a garage sale - that's an individual unloading stuff - not a company using a licensed character in order to make a profit - hugely different. Like I said, I'm not convinced that it's infringing for a baker to use a licensed image on a cake - I believe there's a very good argument that it's a fair use of the image for another's creative endeavors. All that said, I believe everyone should exercise caution and discretion when venturing into these waters - I certainly do.

This isn't the one I was referring to earlier but this one states pretty much the same thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine


Please, don't get me wrong here...I ain't tryin' to be contrary. It is always good to have facts and if I've taken something out of context please forgive me but SHOW me the light.