Thanks to homecook, who brought this to my attention. Scrumptions STOLE my cake picture ... the colorful pink and orange buttercream wedding cake that I entered in the contest on this website. I am fuming!!!! How dare they steal my cake picture and pass it off as their own?!?!?! 
Any suggestions for how I should handle this? I am one who avoids confrontation like the plague, but I am ANGRY and ready to confront!!!!!!
I just can't believe that scrumptions.com stole my picture and has it posted on their website!! I don't know what to do now!!
What I'm amazed by is that they're not posting these pictures as sort of an "idea gallery" (thus--"not necessarily ours") but that their header clearly says, "Cakes designed by Scrumptions".
If you read their "About Us" page, it says they've been in business since like 1986.
Surely they've done enough cakes in, oh, 20 YEARS, to cover their own web page with their OWN pictures?????????
I'm not one for confrontation, but I'd say, if you have an attorney friend, now would be a good time to call them up. Blatant web theft is pretty rampant these days.
To summarize part of an article from writersweekly.com that confronts this issue:
their advice says when you see someone has published your work illegally online, do not send a friendly complaint, FIRST take a screen-shot of the page (print screen key- if you need instructions on that let me know), then you contact the company owner with an invoice demanding they pay you (a fair fee) for illegal use of your work. (also can get their ISP to make note of by going to http://www.dns411.com - The owner will do one of a few things, either deny they stole your work, or try and backpedal and get you to agree to lower the fee or not demand any fee at all. Don't stand for this, keep demanding the fee. And if that continues, report the copyright infringement to their ISP
The rest of the article can be found here (and also explains a bit more about copyright infringement- again the focus is writers but it's a good bit of info to learn about intellectual rights etc especially as they relate to the internet http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/003328_03152006.html
also a good link to peruse when you have time say while your cake is baking or you're waiting for it to cool off 
check out http://www.copyright.gov/ (US site) or find the copyright law site for your country.
Good luck cakesbyjess, I hope you get this sorted out.
Ok - I may be the odd man out on this one, but here goes....something might be a little fishy here.
Concerning specifically the cake pic submitted to CC for the contest by cakesbyjess that you are claiming Scrumptions has stolen from you:
I took a browse around your website and noticed that the cake you submitted to the contest is not posted there. Not a biggie, in and of itself, but I was curious....why didn't you post it to your website? It's a fabulous cake! Though, IMHO, it is very different in style from your other cakes posted on your site. In no way am I emphatically saying it's not your cake...not at all, it may very well be. It's just that I noticed 99% of the wedding cakes on your site, while beautiful, appear to be older photos as well as older in style of decorating. Could be attributed to, as you state on your site, the fact that you mother has been in the business since 1991 and those could be cakes she has done over the years. Just an observation.
I said all that to say this - If you go to Scrumptions with the claim of them stealing the pic of your cake...you may have something hard to prove there. If the only proof you have is that you submitted it here at CC into a contest...they may just laugh at you, or worse, claim you stole the pic of the cake from their site, then claimed it as your own work and submitted it to a contest. It would help your position if you had posted it to your website before you did here at CC. OR...if you have the actual picture of the cake that you can take a picture of...a pic of a pic, so to say. It would also help if there are others they have stolen pics from and posted to their site as their work (Scrumptions). Hopefully others here at CC will see this post and start looking for themselves & come forward if it's happened to them too. Strength in numbers, if you KWIM.
I just wonder, if Scrumptions is doing this....then surely yours isn't the only cake on their site that they've stolen. If it is the only one they've stolen and used as their own...then hopefully they'll stop if they know they're found out.
I also have to admit to you that when I saw that cake was entered into the contest...I could've sworn I'd seen it somewhere before and saved it to my pc. But - I did have some problems with my computer a while back and lost some pictures, so it's no longer there. It must have just been a very similar cake.
maybe this would work:
when taking pics of cakes...include in the picture include a clearly legible
copy of your letterhead ..w/ date/occaison on it "Anderson's Wedding 2/02/06"
or a table tent card -- same info
even your business card
place so it is hard to erase and then water mark the entire photo -- being sure water mark extends onto info card.
granted it spoils the pristine beauty of the cake --- but, better than having it stolen and claimed by others.
JennT, while I can somewhat see where you're coming from, I don't really appreciate what you are implying. You're right, the cake I submitted to the contest is not on my website, and neither are the majority (if not all) of the cake photos I have on CC. That is because the cakes on my website are somewhat older, though not as old as you imply. Granted, some of the cakes on my site are ones that my mom did in the 90's, but there are also plenty that have been done in just the last couple of years. I figured that it would be somewhat silly to post pictures on CC that are already on my website (since the link to my website is in my profile, and anyone can go there to view some of my other cakes), plus I just haven't gotten around to updating the website in a few months. Not that I need to justify this to you, but I do have the ACTUAL cake picture in question on my digital camera. I just really don't appreciate the implications that you made in your post. It is very insulting and offensive to me that you would think I would not only steal someone else's cake picture, but then enter it in the contest AND make a big stink about that person supposedly stealing the picture from me. I certainly have better things to do with my time.
Thanks to everyone else who seem to believe me when I say that this cake picture is MINE, and for all of the good suggestions.
Oh, I see that you're touchy enough about this to assume that I was implying anything at all. Quite the opposite - I was very forthright in my writing as to how someone else may view this - someone other than decorators here at CC. As in someone who actually did steal the pic. If they had the cajones to steal the pic in the first place, you never know how they might deal with you if/when they are accused of it. For all we know, they may try to just blow it off and say 'prove it'. All I did was share a different point of view with you to help you better deal with the situation and/or be prepared for that type of thing to come from the person you're accusing to have taken the picture. I'm sorry that you assumed any negative implications, but that's due only to your perception of what I was trying to relate. Not everyone thinks the same, and to some, it could seem this situation is actually the other way around.
As for your explanation about why you have/have not posted what cakes where...you're right...there's no reason for you to justify that to me or anyone else at all. The only reason I brought up the style and/or age of the other cakes on your site was to note that Scrumptions could try to claim something like 'Look at your site...you don't even do that style of cake' or something along those lines.
It would be nice if everyone viewed things the same, but they don't. I only wanted to give you a glimpse of the flip-side of this issue to help better prepare you for dealing with them about this. Better for you to go into it with your bases covered and all your guns a-blazing so that you're fully prepared for any rebuttle or argument they could possibly throw at you. Sorry that you took it all as a negative on you.
Yes, I am touchy enough about this, because I take stealing pictures and claiming them as your own very seriously. I would imagine that most anyone would be somewhat touchy if they were in my situation. I understand that you were playing devil's advocate, but your tone also implied (or at least, that's how I interpreted it) that you weren't so sure yourself that I was being honest. I became offended early on in your post when you said "something might be a little fishy here", and then later on when you said "I also have to admit to you that when I saw that cake was entered into the contest...I could've sworn I'd seen it somewhere before and saved it to my pc". If you truly did intend to just provide the "flip side" point of view, then thank you. But I read more into your post than what you're saying is there. I guess that's the problem with message boards and emails ... it's easy to misinterpret one's intentions.
Well, I totally understand what you mean about it being easy to misinterpret other's intentions in written communications. When I mentioned the cake that I'd saved a while back that was very similar...that's exactly what I meant...and nothing more. They could try and claim it's just similar to yours or yada yada yada...KWIM now? I totally meant to present the flip-side so you could steel yourself for it, should Scrumptions pull something like that with you. As for the 'fishy' comment....I admit, I should've used totally different wording. I can see now why that may have thrown you...but I just meant about the whole situation in general.
I learned a long time ago (and the hard way) not to read anything into what someone on this, or any other board, writes. Simply because you can go away from it with a totally incorrect impression of what they were trying to convey and then there's bad feelings left behind. I always prefer to just ask them outright what they meant if I have any concerns about how I'm reading it, kwim?
And, just so ya know, I too sent them an email asking if they would remove that cake from their site along with any others they may be misrepresenting as their own if that's so. 
Well, I guess we're all clear then. I suppose I jumped to conclusions too quickly, but that's probably because I'm hypersensitive and distraught about this whole situation. I emailed the person at Scrumptions last night, and I haven't heard from her yet, so as time passes, I get more upset. I guess I need to take a deep breath and reflect for a bit before I respond angrily to a MB post from now on.
Thanks for sending an email to Scrumptions, too. Hopefully the picture will be removed from their website and that will be the end of it.
I've been reading this post and decided to sign up so that I can input...anyone realize that scrumptions.com's website hasn't been changed since 2004? Meaning that there's no way this photo was added in the last few weeks? Also I know for a fact that this cake has been up for over a year and a half because one of my sorority sisters used this site's cake as her inspiration for her wedding. Just something to think about.
Just curious how you have concluded that the website hasn't been updated since 2004? I see at the bottom of the main page that it says © 2003-2004, Scrumptions®, Inc. All Rights Reserved, but that certainly doesn't mean that the site hasn't been updated since 2004.
And you're saying that the orange and pink gerbera daisy cake in question has been on that website for over a year and a half and your sorority sister used it as inspiration for her wedding?
Just curious how you have concluded that the website hasn't been updated since 2004? I see at the bottom of the main page that it says © 2003-2004, Scrumptions®, Inc. All Rights Reserved, but that certainly doesn't mean that the site hasn't been updated since 2004.
Pretty sure that's what that implies
And you're saying that the orange and pink gerbera daisy cake in question has been on that website for over a year and a half and your sorority sister used it as inspiration for her wedding?
Yes, that's what I'm saying.
I'm not sure what the whole story is, but my fiance and I went to Sheila's shop a couple weeks ago for a consult (the middle of June) and saw her portfolio with an enlarged pic. (8x10) of this cake, as well as several different views of the same. It's quite an impressive replica if that's the case.
I'm still not sure how you're so certain that the website hasn't been updated since 2004. Did the owner tell you that herself?
I find it very hard to believe that you saw an actual picture of the cake we're talking about. I have the picture in my digital camera, so again, I'm not sure how someone else could have the same picture, blown up. I guess I'll wait to hear that from the owner herself, since she hasn't yet responded to my email.
I am trying not to get into this, but I don't think just because it says 2003-2004 on the bottom of the page that it hasnt been updated in the last 2-3 years.
Just because it says the SITE is copyrighted 2003-2004 does not mean that they haven't added any pictures to their web site since then. Not what that means at all.
As for her having an enlarged pic of the cake - if it's a pic of a cake that isn't hers...she could've just saved it to her pc, enlarged it w/a photoshop type program, then printed it out. Anyone can do that. But you said something about her having different views of the same cake....are you sure, absolutely sure, it was the exact same cake?
Since this has come down to a discussion concerning one member and her cake, I thought it would be a good time to move on and close the thread before anyone's feelings were hurt or any more accusations follow. This thread is locked. Thanks for everyone's input.
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