Ive seen people post here on Cake Central about people using pictures of other peoples cakes on their website and claiming credit. So, imagine my shock when I came across this website the other day ... www.jetcitycakes.com.
Apparently, Paul the Ninja Quinn has moved to Seattle. And looking closely at his gallery, the pictures are pretty much all ones that were done on Ace of Cakes. The problem I see is that a bunch of them are cakes other decorators on Ace of Cakes were shown making! I dont even think he was working there when they did the bumper cars. And we all saw that Jeff did the stadium and most of the buildings cakes (well, except the rowhouse that fell apart)!
Are they shown as examples of what can be done in cake? Or what HE can do? It sure looks to me like hes trying to show that HE can do them. Theres no disclaimer saying that they were made at Charm City Cakes (by the CCC staff not just him). Does Paul really think he can just put up those pictures and take credit just because he worked at Charm City Cakes? I cant believe that Duff is allowing this!
i'm thinking duff has some share in this company - the name is similar, he mentions duff and CCC more than once on the site...but yeah, no where does he mention that the cakes "are not the brain child of paul"
i dunno?!
Actually, the site says that the shop is the "brain child of" Paul. There's nothing saying that Paul and Duff opened a shop. Or that Duff helped Paul open the shop.
No matter what else, he should at least give credit where credit is due ... a LOT of the work on the cakes he shows was done by others!
Duff is a very generous man. When I wanted to replicate his Fist Of Rock cake I emailed him and asked if I could have his permission to post it in the gallery here and on another forum. He wrote back and said he was very flattered that I asked and yes, it was fine with him if I posted the photo. And if I needed any help to email him my questions. He didn't ask for credit or that I mention his name. So I am guessing that he was just generous enough to have allowed Paul to use these photos without credit. And Washington State is a long ways from Baltimore, Maryland so maybe Duff doesn't see it as competition?
But you weren't posting a photo of HIS cake, were you Shirley?! It was YOUR cake - I think that's kinda different. However, I'm sure Duff knows full well what is on this other website.
does it really make a difference who's cake he uses.... hint he use to work there do you really think that duff gives a hoot... if he uses a cake pic 
i dont think so. duff has plenty of money and he Runs his" own business" so what is the problem.... I think sometime we are soooo tied up in other people "personal" business that we cant find something eles to talk about..... this is cake central not charm city cake.... by the way he wen t to cia school cakes. do you really think that duff is worried about some newbies opinion or a real pastry chiefs opinion ???? 
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diamond, play nice with the other children, please...
Shirley, I agree with you 
Maybe he did get Duff's blessing to use the pictures. But isn't it still kind of misleading for people who order cakes based on those pictures, not knowing that they were made by other people?
This happened to me with my wedding cake. I picked a picture from the woman's "portfolio". Nothing super fancy, but there was stringwork on it, which was one of the main things I loved about the design, and I made a point to say that and ask to make sure she could do it. She tells me, No problem! But, when she delivered the cake ... no stringwork. She didn't know how to do it! She hadn't made the cake in the picture! Instead of stringwork, she used a star tip to make weird, squiggly swoopy things that sort of resmbled giant ropes (but very poorly done) along the sides of each tier. Unfortunately, I didn't even see the cake until we went to cut it. At which point I burst into tears. That shouldn't happen to people.
I agree with KellJ. Maybe somebody should email Duff and ask.
Given that what we see on Food Network is edited, there is no way to know for sure whether or not Paul actually worked on the cake. It is entirely possible that he did in fact help decorate a particular cake, but that just wasn't shown on the show.
Yeah it's hard to tell. I intuit though, that Duff seems to be the kind-hearted sort of man that doesnt sweat competition, and would support anyone who has worked with him, even a short time. I don't think he considers him competition, somehow.
Duff, you da man! 
Given that what we see on Food Network is edited, there is no way to know for sure whether or not Paul actually worked on the cake. It is entirely possible that he did in fact help decorate a particular cake, but that just wasn't shown on the show.
I thought the same thing.
I bet he did work on them and I bet he has permission for use of those pics especially if he left as a friend.
If he didn't I can assure you he would have seen them by now and they would have been removed. 
There are much bigger issues in cake life than worrying over this.
Just because one person works on the cake on camera doesn't mean that he didn't work on it at all. We only see a small portion. And I know several ppl that have the same cakes on their sites- because the cake was a group effort not a specific persons.
But you weren't posting a photo of HIS cake, were you Shirley?! It was YOUR cake - I think that's kinda different. However, I'm sure Duff knows full well what is on this other website.
True,
But then I have always wondered about large shops like Duffs, Sylvia Weinstock, Ron Ben Israel, etc. Especially at Charm City Cakes each person seems to add their own special touch to a cake and as many as 4 people might work on just one cake for an order. So who gets credit? I would guess Duff, as the person who originally sat down and sketched and designed the cake. Or simply because he is the owner of the shop and the decorators are employees. On Pauls site, did he replicate the cakes or actually use photos from Duffs website? As you say, I am sure Duff is aware of Pauls site and if he had a problem with Paul using the photos they would have been removed by now.
There are much bigger issues in cake life than worrying over this.
i really don't think anybody is worrying about this, they're just curious about this
and hey, if you can't come on CC to share your woes regarding the world of cake, where can you? (besides, i'm pretty sure if Duff doesn't have his panties in a knot over this then nobody here should either)
Why are we all so worried about this? Yes, it is not the correct thing to do but I am sure that his business will not be prosperous if he can't produce the same cakes as his pictures...he worked at Charm City Cakes so I am sure he had a hand in some of the cakes he posted on the site. I am sure this is a very common thing unfortunately....
im pretty sure we knew before any of us about the ninja's bussines and ideas so if it bothers him he would do something wich I don't think it does beacuse he has a huge heart I just love that guy that is why he is where he is because of his huge heart.
Looking at the site leaves me clearly with the impression he has Duff's blessings.
If you look at his homepage, it states that he got the name of his business by paying homage to Seattle, his hometown, and Charm City Cakes, where he got his start in baking. This leads me to believe that he has a good relationship with Duff and has his permission to use pictures of any cakes he may have worked on while at CCC. And Duff has shown on the show that he considers other cake decorators to be great comrades, not competition or he wouldn't colaborate with any of them. I also doubt Duff is part of the business since on a recent episode of Ace, Mary Alice made a big deal to a lady that they are not in any way interested in franchising. Duff is probably thrilled that his friend got his business off the ground and maybe even honored that he named it in part after him.
I know there have been threads on here about people stealing other people's pictures for their own sites, but there are SOME honest people in this world too. I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt here.
Just my two cent$.
OMG.....you know what that means? There is an opening!!!! YEAH!!!! I'm going to write Duff now. Do you think he will pay for my move?
I'm going to write to him first!!!! I'll race ya!!!!!!!!
Ya suppose we could each work half days and share the job? 
Is it possible that he designed the cakes? Duff is a silent partner?
He would have to be a complete moron to steal from his employer, and publish his malice on the internet.
Just because we don't share with the public every intricacy of our business doesn't mean malice has occurred.
OMG.....you know what that means? There is an opening!!!! YEAH!!!! I'm going to write Duff now. Do you think he will pay for my move?
I'm going to write to him first!!!! I'll race ya!!!!!!!!
Ya suppose we could each work half days and share the job?
sorry but the position has been filled. I start Monday!
And then I wake up from my dream...
So you all seriously don't see anything wrong with this? No one thinks it's possibly misleading for potential Jet City Cakes customers? Not everyone watches AoC ... amazing, but true. IMO, anyone who doesn't watch the show is very likely to look at the gallery and think they are all "Paul's cakes."
And if someone orders a cake from JCC, because of a picture in that gallery, and doesn't get what's pictured... will it reflect badly only on Paul? I don't think it will. I think it has the potential to reflect badly on all of us (especially Duff and CCC, since they are mentioned by name on the JCC site).
Is it really acceptable to leave a job, even on good terms, and start your own similar business, using pictures of products made at your former place of employment? I'd have thought that answer would be no, unless of course, you could and did establish that it was your work and that you had permission to use the images. But maybe that's the case only if you aren't on tv.
So you all seriously don't see anything wrong with this? No one thinks it's possibly misleading for potential Jet City Cakes customers? Not everyone watches AoC ... amazing, but true. IMO, anyone who doesn't watch the show is very likely to look at the gallery and think they are all "Paul's cakes."
And if someone orders a cake from JCC, because of a picture in that gallery, and doesn't get what's pictured... will it reflect badly only on Paul? I don't think it will. I think it has the potential to reflect badly on all of us (especially Duff and CCC, since they are mentioned by name on the JCC site).
Is it really acceptable to leave a job, even on good terms, and start your own similar business, using pictures of products made at your former place of employment? I'd have thought that answer would be no, unless of course, you could and did establish that it was your work and that you had permission to use the images. But maybe that's the case only if you aren't on tv.
I can't speak for anyone else, but it doesn't bother me one bit. This is between Duff & Paul - and if Paul had a hand in making those cakes, then he has every right to post them - especially if he has Duff's permission (which I'm sure he does).
If you want to be so technical about it, should Duff now have to remove any cakes that Paul contributed to from his website/portfolio? Since Paul is no longer there - and who knows if the rest of the staff can replicate what Paul did... isn't it misleading?!? *GASP!!!*
This seriously gives me the giggles. There are more important things in the world to get upset about...
I wrote to Paul asking him what is up with the exact pictures from CCC.
If I hear back from him I will let you all know the answers.......
You and probably 20 others... *sigh*
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