For Those Who Dont Think The Copyright Law Is Real....
Decorating By morganchampagne Updated 7 Oct 2013 , 11:22pm by SystemMod2
ASo would I. But She just feels embarrassed by it. Which I do understand. Some people would rather hide their failures instead of using them to help others.
AFor most people, your warning IS lost.
Without verifiable info, it becomes another urban legend.
I neither believe or disbelieve. I just wanted to offer an explanation of why no one was responding as well as offer advice on how bed to appeal to people.
AIt really wasn't bothering me that nobody was responding...cause it was just me sharing a story. I didn't actually expect anyone to comment on it. But thanks for the explanation
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It's so important because people want to base their decisions on facts. We've heard/read many times the "it happened to a friend of mine" but no evidence is offered. If you really want people to KNOW that these lawsuits happen, why not offer up the case law?
There's a reason Snopes.com exists - because there are a lot of stories that are simply made up.
I don't believe or disbelieve you. I am just answering your question.
I don't get this logic . . . the copyright law DOES in fact, exist, and people should be basing their decision on that alone, not whether someone has had the law enforced, with evidence attached.
Some people continue to break the law, because of ignorance, but why someone needs evidence of prosecution to believe that they have to follow the law is just wrong.
Thanks Morgan for sharing the details of your friend's story. I really don't need to know her name to realize the warning you were trying to relay. :)
Liz
Well, I feel badly for your friend, $200,000 is a lot of money. LV certainly has to protect their brand. I would think the bulk of their lawyers go after counterfeiters, my guess is that they do internet searches for fake purses and came across a cake.
AIt really is. It's such an avoidable thing too. Just don't do the cakes.
What I find a little funny though is that people don't want to accept the laws...but their creations are off limits. People want to chase after these people who use pictures of their cakes, or recreate the design with torches and pitchforks! And rightfully so. Of what right is it to someone else to take what you created.
Well apparently LV feels the same.
AI think that DD is right really. And I didn't think there would actually be any discussion of validity. Short of my friend giving me all the details and allowing me to share, I'm unlikely to deter anybody who has decided it's OK to do these cakes
AI read an article yesterday that Cake Boss software did with an intellectual property attorney. http://www.cakeboss.com/CopyrightCakes.aspx
I once posted a used light pull for sale on eBay for $5. In my description I wrote that ?Coupon=CC2015"the design looked similar to the Makenzie Childs style." The company emailed me, insisting I remove my listing, and if I did not, they threatened to sue. They also contacted ebay and had my listing removed. I received an email from eBay warning me to not relist my item or my account would be shut down. Just sharing this to show that companies do take action for smaller items.
AThank you for sharing this information. If I was your friend I wouldn't want my legal woes posted on a public forum either. I've heard about the copyright infringement warnings time and time again on this site, but would have never imagined the penalty could be so stiff!
I recently saw some stencils that were from another well know purse maker, to be used for cakes as well. They were NOT made by that famously purse maker, I guarantee. I doubt they had permission to do this, and the first thing I thought was wow, what 'till "so-n-so" sees this advertised for sale. They would be all over that!
ANo problem. She's really sensitive about the whole thing. It's really not a matter if an offender will get caught it's when. She happened to get a real stiff penalty.
I used to work for Wal-Mart and when i would do a copyright cake you had to do it as the picture because if you didn't then the store could get into trouble for changing their cake.I think it is wrong that they put stiff fines on changing their cake because you are still using their kits and maybe the person can't have the color red for example and you made it a different color the store can get into a lot of trouble for that little change.
A
Original message sent by morganchampagne
No problem. She's really sensitive about the whole thing. It's really not a matter if an offender will get caught it's when. She happened to get a real stiff penalty.
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Could I ask what the big deal is? I mean what's the concern with finding the judgement? I welcome it but I'm just curious why it's such a huge deal. Especially considering it was a warning to help ppl. I didn't accuse anybody on this site of doing anything...so I'm wondering why it seems so important to prove it to be false.
I may have the wrong impression so correct ms if I'm wrong
I don't think it's a case of proving it false, but more proving it true. If people can see it in black and white, as opposed to word of mouth, they believe it easier. Don't take it to personally. People are going to talk about it and dissect it as you did post on a public discussion forum. It's human nature.
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I don't get this logic . . . the copyright law DOES in fact, exist, and people should be basing their decision on that alone, not whether someone has had the law enforced, with evidence attached.
Some people continue to break the law, because of ignorance, but why someone needs evidence of prosecution to believe that they have to follow the law is just wrong.
Thanks Morgan for sharing the details of your friend's story. I really don't need to know her name to realize the warning you were trying to relay. :)
Liz
It's simply because there are many many laws that NEVER get enforced. They are just ridiculous. Look up crazy laws sometime. So if there isn't any hard facts to back it up, it's easy to believe it's one of those laws that are not really enforced. I know I have never personally seen or heard directly from someone who has had this happen. I do believe it can happen, don't get me wrong. I've just never heard or seen concrete proof. And when I talk about laws that don't really matter anymore, I'm NOT talking about anything that someone has actually been charged with in say the last 40 years. Nothing that is actually enforced in this day and age.
AI think the problem is in how a law is enforced/applied. Copyright laws are meant to prohibit profiting from someone else's product or idea.
If I sell a floral cake that serves 50 for $200, and I sell the same size cake but with a drawing of Hello Kitty on it for the same price, I am not profiting from the sale of Hello Kitty - having a copyright image on it didn't make the sale and didn't make me any more money - it only made a 5 year old girl smile. I will also only likely sell less than 10 cakes with Hello Kitty on them in my lifetime. I am not mass producing Hello Kitty cakes.
Cakes are not durable goods, they are disposable/edible so the laws [B][I]may be[/I][/B] applied differently where the products are meant to be eaten.
So it's not that anyone doubts the existence of copyright law, what some of us are doubting is that they can be applied in the same way to cakes as they are to knockoff designer bags.
ABut this one actually IS enforced, and it's not a stupid crazy law. As cake artists we are rightfully protective of our work when someone steals a cake photo, for instance, and plasters their name on it. But then the same people throw a fit because they can't make Mickey?
AI just saw a post on Facebook about someone stealing photos of some superhero cupcakes - never mind that the cupcakes in question had Marvel trademarks all over them.
Like I said in the other thread - if people don't want to believe its true then that's their gamble. It's no loss to me.
A
Original message sent by BrandisBaked
If I sell a floral cake that serves 50 for $200, and I sell the same size cake but with a drawing of Hello Kitty on it for the same price, I am not profiting from the sale of Hello Kitty
The issue is not whether you are profiting from the infringement, in fact infringement can be charged even if there is zero profit. The reasoning behind the law is to protect the IP owner against lost profits. That's why there's no issue with a generic floral cake, but a cake with a Hello Kitty design copied without permission is causing Sanrio to lose money through direct sales, licensing, or potential future licensing. This applies regardless of how long the infringing product exists...a consumable product could even represent a greater loss of revenue.
There are some elements of copyright law that IMO don't make sense, but IP protection in general is essentially the foundation of a good portion of the US economy.
AIf she was to be mind a example of than it would have been in the news big time.
If I was a cake deocrator being sued for making a cake with a copyrighted image etc, I would call every newspaper, media outlet etc. around to make the company suing me look like idoits.
I say this because you are taking about a cake that is being eaten and will not be around anymore, understand? It's differnent if you are sewing knock off purses and selling them. For God sake, you are paying homage to the purse by recreating it in cake form for a person that is a fan of the purse.
I would make the company look like bad guys if I was sued. Play it out in the media!
I have to say... if companys really wanted to go after people using their images on cake and sue them and make examples of them, they would just have to look on cake central. There are enough copyrighted images cakes on this site alone to keep them busy with lawsuits!!
Anyone on this site every been sued?? anyone??
This story sounds like a "fairytale"
And this one was 5 years back! So it would take a dedicated person to find it. LV has been going after a lot of people for all kinds of infringements. There's a popular part of town here that sells knock offs. LV came through and rounded them all up!
I remember something in the news about that long ago about a bakery being sued by a famous label purse designer, so it might be the same thing. I remember what country it was in but not the designer. I won't post the country in case you're in trouble with your friend already, but I definitely saw a few news stories about it, so it did happen to at least that person. It might be a totally different situation than your friend's experience.
AThese companies; Disney, Coach, LV, etc. should be flattered that there products are being advertised. They should pay cake decorators for promoting there films, pocketbooks, shoes...! Incredible, billion dollar company going after the little guy/gal working hard to be able to purchase their products or to be able to take their children to the movies.
This can really be a win win situation for both parties. Don't you think?
A
Original message sent by onmymind
If I was a cake deocrator being sued for making a cake with a copyrighted image etc, I would call every newspaper, media outlet etc. around to make the company suing me look like idoits.
Your plan relies on your ability to out-spin the PR department of a business with millions of dollars at its disposal. Good luck with that.
AI think cakes fall in line with things like face painting and caricature drawings you have done amusement parks. If you tell the artist you want to be drawn with Mickey Mouse's body, carrying a Louis Vuitton bag and wearing (insert famous shoe designer here) heels - are they SERIOUSLY violating copyright by doing so? It's similar to parody. And while the medium is different, it's still an artist's rendition of a character or good - just in a different medium.
A
Original message sent by cakesage
These companies; Disney, Coach, LV, etc. should be flattered that there products are being advertised. They should pay cake decorators for promoting there films, pocketbooks, shoes...! Incredible, billion dollar company going after the little guy/gal working hard to be able to purchase their products or to be able to take their children to the movies.
This can really be a win win situation for both parties. Don't you think?
So a company invests time and money in creating original creative work and advertising said work to make it so popular in the first place, then they should pay again to cake decorators who will use the company's creative work to profit on cakes?
These companies; Disney, Coach, LV, etc. should be flattered that there products are being advertised. They should pay cake decorators for promoting
there films, pocketbooks, shoes...! Incredible, billion dollar company going after the little guy/gal working hard to be able to purchase their products or to be able to take their children to the movies.
This can really be a win win situation for both parties. Don't you think?
Disney is happy to license their trademarked characters ets, here's the page that will start anyone who's interested on the journey to getting permission. Good luck and take a snack and your wallet with you, it's a long trip. And yes, somewhere buried in there is a bakery goods category, so they do have us poor little cake decorators in mind!
A
Original message sent by costumeczar
I did find the link, so it isn't a fairy tale.
Are you going to keep us in suspense? :?:D
A
Original message sent by BrandisBaked
If you tell the artist you want to be drawn with Mickey Mouse's body, carrying a Louis Vuitton bag and wearing (insert famous shoe designer here) heels - are they SERIOUSLY violating copyright by doing so?
Yes, if they do not have permission.
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