Wording Re: Copywrite Infringement???
Business By lmn4881 Updated 23 Jul 2007 , 1:53am by beccakelly
Trademark and copyright infringement comes with high fines and possible prison terms. Some companies such as Disney will come after a decorator with all they have to prevent them from making any money on their trademarked characters.
Copyright laws deal with the written word. A literary work, music, movies, or anything that has creative writing will be protected under copyright law. Titles, names, lists, phrases, or other common knowledge statements cannot be copyrighted. For example, the list of ingredients in a recipe is not protected by copyright law. However, the instructions for how to make the recipe can be. You can protect your work with the circle C, your name and date and be minimally protected. To be fully protected, then forms must be filed, a fee paid, and then a number will be assigned to the work.
Trademarks cover characters, logos, company names, etc. I don't know all of the details concerning trademark laws.
For the wording on your website, just put it simply. You will not do trademarked or copyrighted designed cakes due to the federal penalties. Maybe you can word it better, but this is a quick way to let people know why.
HTH
Michele
just my thought, i would emphasize what you CAN do, not tell everyone what you can't do. so don't mention it at all in your advertising material, and then if someone asks for a character cake, give them a great alternative. for instance make a cake in the same colors and tell them they can buy a toy to put on top. maybe you could even do a cake or two like that for your website and post pictures to refer people to if they ask what it would look like.
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