Ok, This is getting better! I could not believe what's going on!
I can not believe she is a military wife!
And before you have a business from home, if you live in military housing, you need to have a permission from the base for this business. Now, since the military housing is privatized this could mean more trouble because the private company does not allow business from home.
It is very sad that this lady is taking this negative attitude towards this issue. Looking around she does an esplendid job with the soldiers and even got recognized by a senator. She seems to be very versatile she also sells mary kay and got the priviledge to be able to open her own shop.. so many accomplishments and such a negative response to something that can get solve so easily.
It is just sad.
I am sure she will eventually do the right thing,and it will come down at 23:56. It is a power thing. You want her to take it down. By golly, you're not the boss of her and she's not gonna take it down until she is good and ready. My 5 year old does this to me frequently.
Supposedly there is no such thing as bad publicity. Think of how many visits she has had to her web site since this thread started. Makes her visit counter look good. Does it help your listing in search engines if you already have a good number of visitors? Can you tell I'm not too techno-savvy?
Well, as for what I can see it has been past the 24th hour, (actually it is way past, this thread started on Saturday and it is now Tuesday, if she was advised about it than, it is more than enough time, but let take into consideration that it was the weekend.) She was advised of it since yesterday and if she was able to change and remove other pics than she should have been able to remove the picture in question. Actually that should have been a priority to her, to remove the photo that was mentioned to her and then remove the other photos that she knows belong to others.
At this point it's not a power thing, nor a "you are not the boss of me" thing either, it is a legal matter at this point. She has been given ample time and she has obviously changed other, so that is proof that she is aware of the problem with her site. Now it just comes down to "my (as in arosstx) Lawyer, talking to hers" and see if she will obey the law that way. Otherwise she can be taken to court over something so simple as removing the photo.
icantcook, you stated that your 5 year old does this, well as funny as it is, my 9 and 12 year olds do it to me all day, she isn't a 5,9 nor 12 year old that arosstx is dealing with. She is a full fledged adult and she needs to start acting like one. She needs to see that there is serious consequences to her actions and that she will have to pay those when she is faced with them.
I know that they say that there is no bad publicity, but when you think of it, it's not as if it were potential customers that were looking at her site, it is very upset people defending one of our own looking at the dishonest, unlawful discracefull thing that she has done. I guess that I take it personal because it has been done to me (not with cakes, with sewing, I make/design dresses too and someone took all the credit for it, but when it went all wrong and it was taken to get fixed I was the one that was pointed at as if it were my work.) and it is the worst feeling in the world. I know that in some weird way you feel violated and there is no turning back after that, no trust, no nothing. Sorry about that I didn't mean to ramble about my issues. There is a process to all of this and it should be followed because if you let her get away with it now, she will think that she can continue and she will just start as a new member her on CC or any of the other sites (that some of us go on from time to time, "there's no place like home") and "steal" photos and think that she can get away with it again.
If it were me (which I think it will be in my next lifetime before someone has any desire to copy one of my cakes 
) I would have already filled a legal complaint against her and this would have been done with. arosstx, I admire your patience, I have done when it comes to people being ignorant and so bluntly disrespectful. She isn't 5, she isn't dumb (regardless of her actions), and she can read and I am sure that she knows how to keep track of time....so there is no excuse for her to continue disobeying the law in the way that she is. And it all has nothing to do with all the good work that she does.
Vicky
Why is everyone so surprised that she's a military wife and ex military? 
I'm sorry but there are plenty of people in the service or married to military members that are far from perfect. I know that there are lots of good people in the military but they have their share of messed up people too (I'm a brat so I saw it growing up). There are even some indications that military families have higher rates of alcoholism and abuse (the results of studies vary) than the general population.
I'm not trying to get into a military bashing thing, I feel that we need our military and that they do a good job but I also realise that the branches are made up of individual people and people are flawed.
I just thought of something any of us should be interested in: embedding software for pictures. You can put your copyright or other info in the file for your pics. It doesn't show up unless you have an embed program to view it but it would prove very useful if it ever came down to proving a photo is your own.
I just found a free download of embed software online.
http://image-infocards-viewer.isomeris.qarchive.org/
I am sure she will eventually do the right thing,and it will come down at 23:56. It is a power thing. You want her to take it down. By golly, you're not the boss of her and she's not gonna take it down until she is good and ready. My 5 year old does this to me frequently.
Supposedly there is no such thing as bad publicity. Think of how many visits she has had to her web site since this thread started. Makes her visit counter look good. Does it help your listing in search engines if you already have a good number of visitors? Can you tell I'm not too techno-savvy?
Well, as for what I can see it has been past the 24th hour, (actually it is way past, this thread started on Saturday and it is now Tuesday, if she was advised about it than, it is more than enough time, but let take into consideration that it was the weekend.) She was advised of it since yesterday and if she was able to change and remove other pics than she should have been able to remove the picture in question. Actually that should have been a priority to her, to remove the photo that was mentioned to her and then remove the other photos that she knows belong to others.
At this point it's not a power thing, nor a "you are not the boss of me" thing either, it is a legal matter at this point. She has been given ample time and she has obviously changed other, so that is proof that she is aware of the problem with her site. Now it just comes down to "my (as in arosstx) Lawyer, talking to hers" and see if she will obey the law that way. Otherwise she can be taken to court over something so simple as removing the photo.
icantcook, you stated that your 5 year old does this, well as funny as it is, my 9 and 12 year olds do it to me all day, she isn't a 5,9 nor 12 year old that arosstx is dealing with. She is a full fledged adult and she needs to start acting like one. She needs to see that there is serious consequences to her actions and that she will have to pay those when she is faced with them.
I know that they say that there is no bad publicity, but when you think of it, it's not as if it were potential customers that were looking at her site, it is very upset people defending one of our own looking at the dishonest, unlawful discracefull thing that she has done. I guess that I take it personal because it has been done to me (not with cakes, with sewing, I make/design dresses too and someone took all the credit for it, but when it went all wrong and it was taken to get fixed I was the one that was pointed at as if it were my work.) and it is the worst feeling in the world. I know that in some weird way you feel violated and there is no turning back after that, no trust, no nothing. Sorry about that I didn't mean to ramble about my issues. There is a process to all of this and it should be followed because if you let her get away with it now, she will think that she can continue and she will just start as a new member her on CC or any of the other sites (that some of us go on from time to time, "there's no place like home") and "steal" photos and think that she can get away with it again.
If it were me (which I think it will be in my next lifetime before someone has any desire to copy one of my cakes
) I would have already filled a legal complaint against her and this would have been done with. arosstx, I admire your patience, I have done when it comes to people being ignorant and so bluntly disrespectful. She isn't 5, she isn't dumb (regardless of her actions), and she can read and I am sure that she knows how to keep track of time....so there is no excuse for her to continue disobeying the law in the way that she is. And it all has nothing to do with all the good work that she does.Vicky
Technically she has 24 hours from the time her WEBHOST gives her notice to remove. We do not know the exact time that they gave, or will give notice.
On another point, it is easy to say that you should contact a lawyer, however, it may cost you alot to do so, with little or no benefit.
As I was consulting our lawyer about some topics, he mentioned that it is not enough that someone violated your copyright, or slandered you, or anything else like that, you have to prove HOW YOU WERE DAMAGED. Your lawyer of course will be all for pursuing it, because he will get to bill you either way. But you might not get any damages awarded if you cannot show HARM.
This will all take up alot of time, energy, and stress, when all you really want is a photo removed.
The best course of action is to be patient and allow the process with the DCMA notice to play out. These things can sometimes take a little time depending on the response time of the entities involved. You have to keep in mind that these ISPs and webhosts get tons of notices daily to deal with.
As Heath says, this stuff takes time, so I hope everyone can see that I AM trying to be patient with this issue.
It would be easy to get worked up, upset, mad, whatever - I'm just not willing for someone that would stoop that low to steal my picture to now also decide my emotions too. I'm a grown up, and I wish she would be as well.
I did do some checking, and she has had complaints against her business before and at least one claim filed through the Better Business Bureau, not to mention her being banned from CC for now being a repeat offender.
Summernoelle
and it is very expensive to make dummy cakes simply for the purpose of displaying them. Maybe she just didn't have many examples of her own work. I wouldn't post others photos as an example of my work, but I wonder if it was a cost issue for her.
ceshell
Someone mentioned that the business just started in May of this year, so I'd certainly think it's unlikely that everyone starting a business can make so many cakes (or dummies) to post on their site--between the time and money involved.
I have been working setting up my own portfolio since June. Money is extremely tight for us but I am finding a way to do it the right way. (they buy the supplies, I bake/decorate and get to keep the pictures.)
If she cant afford her own pictures then she needs to not have a website until she can use her own pictures. Plain & simple.
Id rather be honest and have just a few cakes displayed on my site that are my own than steal graphics and worry over someone asking for something I cant replicate or even worse a lawsuit over the use of a copyrighted graphic.
Another thing if shes added these two great artists/designers etc. I am sure that they came with their own portfolio and hopefully more than happy to have them posted for viewing on her site.
As for her removing the backgrounds on everything shes still using an illegal copy of a picture. It doesnt make them suddenly ok to use. Its still not her work, and its still not ok for her to pass them off as her work. If shes hauled into court by someone it is only going to make her look worse before a judge/jury. How will she explain that they were there with a background and now they are still the same exact picture but with out a background. There is a way to blow up graphics to match pictures by pixels. If shes taken to court by someone these pictures will be blown up to show the pixel layout square by square. If its an identical match she could be in serious trouble.
I know this next comment will probably rub some the wrong way but here goes Unfortunately human nature has shown in many cases in many ways if you are unethical in one area of your life chances are you are probably unethical in all of them. Ive seen it more than enough in life to think shes a great person in everything else she does but is shady in only this. Call me jaded but Ive been burned enough to question people when they show shady behavior.
As for the two error in spelling on her site... if she has a developer doing it then I can see them messing up but if she is doing it... yeah that's pretty bad.
Summernoelle
and it is very expensive to make dummy cakes simply for the purpose of displaying them. Maybe she just didn't have many examples of her own work. I wouldn't post others photos as an example of my work, but I wonder if it was a cost issue for her.
ceshell
Someone mentioned that the business just started in May of this year, so I'd certainly think it's unlikely that everyone starting a business can make so many cakes (or dummies) to post on their site--between the time and money involved.
If she cant afford her own pictures then she needs to not have a website until she can use her own pictures. Plain & simple.
Yep, I'm totally with you on that. I don't even remotely condone or excuse the behavior. I was mentioning that only because several people were wondering aloud why she hadn't taken the time to make all of those cakes herself since it appears that she is clearly capable of making nice cakes. I agree, if she didn't have the time to make the necessary cakes for her website, she should have delayed launching the site. Or bought a CD (as mentioned) of stock cake pics which do not have copyright restrictions. Or, oh yeah, ASKED some people if she might use their photos.
I've been following the thread since yesterday. It's one thing to think immitation is the sincerest form of flattery but taking a picture and claiming it as your own isn't flattery. I certainly hope she does the right thing soon and removes it. Changing backgrounds isn't it. I am just getting started myself and like to look at other pictures for ideas but what she did was totally wrong. Can you imagine if someone wanted to order that cake for a shower for someone, what would she do?
We were at Fort Hood for a week (husband was there for 2 months) before my husband deployed to Iraq last year and I met a woman at the Olive Garden (we ate almost every meal there since they don't have them in HI where we were living until March) and she was telling me about her cake shop and everything she likes to do for the military. I wonder if that was her. She seemed really nice but one never knows. I also saw that Cordon Bleu wasn't spelled correctly either. I saw that she had studied under Brownyn Weber as well. I took a class with Nicholas Lodge once, I can claim I studied under him? 
No, not everyone in the military or their spouses are nice people. It's just that we have to put up with a lot of bashing from some people who think our husband's or wives must be stupid or else they'd be doing something else. Lord knows I heard it often enough when I was in myself. I guess that's why a lot of the wives here at Fort Gordon that I know got upset with that "Army Wives" show. But like in every other career or neighborhood, there are people who aren't nice or perfect. It should not be relevant that she was in or works at Fort Hood. I guess sometimes we just don't want to think the worst of our fellow military families.
I hope that this gets rectified but it makes me wonder, how many other people troll this site and steal pictures to put on their websites?
The small pic of your bridal cake still shows but when you click on it - it's say URL can't be found. Your's and a few others. The cake from The Knot too...hmmm interesting. Looks like things are being taken care of.
Amazingly though, she has many "new" wedding cakes to display with NO backgrounds. So what...people can't say it's their exact picture? 
This is all still shady. Bad feelings 
The all other cakes section of the site is down. Hopefully it is being resolved.
Now you can go into the section but when you click on some of the cakes you get this message:
The requested URL http:// was not found on this server.
Unfortunately, the one that started this post is still there and can be viewed.
Why is everyone so surprised that she's a military wife and ex military?
I'm sorry but there are plenty of people in the service or married to military members that are far from perfect. I know that there are lots of good people in the military but they have their share of messed up people too (I'm a brat so I saw it growing up). There are even some indications that military families have higher rates of alcoholism and abuse (the results of studies vary) than the general population.
I'm not trying to get into a military bashing thing, I feel that we need our military and that they do a good job but I also realise that the branches are made up of individual people and people are flawed.
I'm a former brat also and completely agree with you. For me, I wasn't surprised that she was a military wife/former servicewoman - it was the fact that she began such a noble and generous with the support a soldier organization. I'd like to think that someone who can do something like that is caring, compassionate and takes care of and understands her own (military).
It boggles my mind that the same philosophy and care isn't extended to her fellow cakers. It's cardinal sin here to steal others work and claim it as your own. I think we can safely say that she knows full well of her actions because she changed many other things on her site since the start of this thread - except for removing Audrey's picture. Bold and ballsy, I tell ya.
Legal or not, I'd like to think she'd do it as a courtesy to her peers. "You're right, I did this...I apologize, I will remove your picture. " Or "may I have permission to credit you..."
She obviously understands that unwritten rule because she previously asked someone for permission here before.
I hope that makes sense!
[quote=She obviously understands that unwritten rule because she previously asked someone for permission here before. [/quote]
Maybe she did that just to seem nice because you can't see anywhere on her website anything that says this cake was made by so and so. Funny, huh?
Maybe she did that just to seem nice because you can't see anywhere on her website anything that says this cake was made by so and so. Funny, huh?
Oh, it was for her SupportASoldier site. It was someone who made a patriotic themed cake for the Austin Cake Show and she posted it on her site - then asked for their info here and if it was ok for her to post it. (lol) That was back in February and it's not there anymore.
I swear I was a detective in my former life.
When I click on "All other cakes" now it says "Web Site Cannot Be found". Looks like she must be working on her website as we speak.
That's so interesting. I can still open that link and see all the cakes in thumbsprint mode and some of them larger.
I wonder why that is.
Maybe she did that just to seem nice because you can't see anywhere on her website anything that says this cake was made by so and so. Funny, huh?
Oh, it was for her SupportASoldier site. It was someone who made a patriotic themed cake for the Austin Cake Show and she posted it on her site - then asked for their info here and if it was ok for her to post it. (lol) That was back in February and it's not there anymore.
I swear I was a detective in my former life.
Yeah, I'm a little bit of a detective myself. Man, this is like a soap opera. I can't wait to the next episode.
When I click on "All other cakes" now it says "Web Site Cannot Be found". Looks like she must be working on her website as we speak.
That's so interesting. I can still open that link and see all the cakes in thumbsprint mode and some of them larger.
I wonder why that is.
That's wierd, I just tried it again and it still says "Web Site Not Found". You must just have a magical touch
I also got "Website cannot be found" when I clicked on other cakes. You don't have a CIA chip in yuor computer or something, do you frindmi?
Someone earlier mentioned something about her site getting tons of hits from this. I'm no techy, so excuse the ignorance here. I heard once that the more hits your site gets, the better chance you have of being brought up when someone types something general in a search engine. Is this true? If I type cakes and Iowa, I can't get my site to come up. But my competitor in town does. Of course, she's been in business for over 40 years and is totally awesome and I've had my site for maybe 6 months. I hope we're not helping to boost her business by hitting her site. Anyone know anything about this???
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