http://www.corante.com/importance/archives/2005/06/16/birthday_cakes_are_natures_way_of_telling_us_to_reform_copyright.php

Interesting indeed, but I dare say, this'll get the crowd riled up again.

Reading this article makes me think that if the "buzz" is starting to get around to copyright experts like him, that means the big corporations are starting sniff around actively in the cake decorating world....

Certainly if you follow some of the links, it get's deeper into Copyrights and trademarks which are often confused by people. If they read it somewhere else, maybe some will start to "get it"?

I have created character cakes for my family and friends (not sold) and understand that falls into the "fair use" activity in regards to copyright and trademarks. However, under current law when I begin my business would it be legal to decorate a cake and add character figures or icing images that had been purchased from a store because they royalties had already been paid through that purchase? I find this area of copyright and trademarks so confusing and haven't been able to find a good resource that effectively explains the law in an understandable manner.

I guess that I'm wondering if it's supposedly such a big deal then how can companies like Wilton sell character cake pans? Why should we not be able to do a FBCT? I guess that I just don't understand all of the laws well enough.

Wilton buys the licensing rights to market those products.

Wendy Seltzer is my new hero!!

If you buy a character cake kit from a store or anywhere else, that's well within fair use because it was made and produced specifically for that purpose. But if a kid likes a picture of Dora from Nick JR. magazine and brings it to the bakery to print an edible image for a cake, it's not. Makes sense to me. No one here would want their creations used and mass produced for other reasons and it makes sense to me that Disney and the like don't want that done either.

I think it's perfectly legal to do your own hand drawn image of say Dora or any other character but you just can't reproduce the image and sell it without giving proper credit and for the most part with these corps. that means royalties where they belong.

I think the author is out of their mind. The Bakery should never have been printing things that weren't licensed to them and selling them to people. They knew that wasn't legal in the first place.