Guidelines For Licensed Characters??
Decorating By momoftwogirls Updated 16 May 2006 , 9:18pm by koolaidstains
what are the guidelines when creating a cake using licensed characters?
and then selling them to others?
Some bakery's around here will not do them unless they have the 'rights' to do so.
From what I understand, you aren't allowed to sell character cakes unless you the rights to do so, many stores do not, that is why they won't do those cakes......for me, I don't do character cakes except for family, and I don't charge them for it, that way I haven't broken any laws.
That's right edencakes! I have heard that too! I have used that too! 
I have heard horror stories about Charlie Brown's image and Schultz having his attornies call on "Mom and Pop" bakeries and asking them to do Charlie Brown cakes. If they did they were slapped with a law suit! Yikes! 
I would only do them for family and friends.
I have a superman, hulk and batman cakes due for this weekend and thank goodness the client decided at the last minute to go with plastic characters.
Seems to me that the owners of the license has to catch me selling the character before they can take any action against me, so.....
. . .but if they do. . . 
. . .you could face a hefty fine!!! Is it worth the risk for a few dollars? I've heard that some companies are very serious about this, namely, Disney who's been known to go after daycares for unlicensed wall art! Or so I've read on this forum.
Character cakes cannot be sold if you do not have rights from the creator or person who owns the trademark. It's copyright infringement.
I have an order for a character cake on the 20th and I told the customer
that I can't sell it to her with a bct of the character she wants.
I did tell her that I can do the cake in all the right colours to match the characters she wants and then we can get plastic figurines/toys to put on the cake instead. She can buy them, or if I do, I keep that on a separate bill which I include with my own bill for the cake and give them both to her.
Of course, I add a few dollars onto my price for taking time to go to a toy store, look for it, purchase it and bring it home.
I got all this info on this forum!! Thanks everyone!
Hope that helps!! 
I don't remember who said it, but I read one person's answer to this which I thought was great - when doing licensed characters, just say you're charging for the box and the cake is free!
I've heard that before too and it'd be great if it were true. You can't accept any money in connection with the cake. You can't even say that the cake was free and the money was a donation. The only licensed character cakes you can sell or accept any money in connection with are the ones with the kits/toppers or licensed edible images that you purchase.
The makers of some of the kits/toppers have even become more strict requiring that their products only be sold to licensed bakeries. And if you've ever wondered why Walmart character cakes all look alike, it isn't because they lack creativity. It's because they have to follow guidelines concerning even the placement of the toppers.
There's been a lot of debate about this recently. Some of it in our favor like this highly publicized article...
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/06/16/copyright_cops_crack.html
It's a must read for anyone who sells character cakes.
A little bit OT, but I learned a lot from it:
I just planned to put the lyrics from the cookie-monster song "if i knew you were coming ..." (just this short phrase) on my web-site and ask the record company for the permisson. 2 weeks later I got the answer: no way. So I called them to ask why not (I was even willing to pay for it, as I thought it would be nice on a cake-site). The answer was, that NO part of any Sesame Steet lyric, song, picture etc. will ever get the right to be use unless it´s connected with Sesame Street (books, cd ...) or a really big company to merchandise Sesame Street (toys, clothes or cake things). They also told me, that, now after my inquiry, they will cheque my web-site from time to time to see what I put on there (even after some years).
I will not figure out what will happen if you ask for a cake decoration license, as a license, if you get it, for 10 sec. mp3 music on a web-site, will cost around 1000$ a year ....
My friend and I opened a cake shop (we sold it because we couldn't hold down our 'regular' jobs and keep up with it), but we were doing cookie bouquets along with cakes. The 'Cookie Bouquet' company sent us certified mail via attorney that if we did not remove the words cookie bouquet from our signs, our advertisements, and quit referring to our cookies as cookie bouquets, we could be sued. We had to answer within a time frame and send it back certified. They were very serious. (We didn't realize they owned the words 'cookie bouquet'. They even sent someone to purchase a valentine bouquet to ensure themselves that we weren't using their 'designs'. These companies are very serious.
Thanks to all the response on this topic. I would like to get into the business of making and selling cakes one day down the road - I still have a lot more to learn!
I did read that article link above and it makes some good points...I understand that they have to protect their images.
So how could you get the 'rights' to make those type of cakes? Is it really worth the expense?
IMO, I think it is silly to go after susie homemaker for making a cake with a childs favorite character on it! I guess I better watch out on BCT! I do not think I will be posting anymore college logos either heaven forbid I get into trouble for that exspecially since I made it for the warden at the prisons birthday!
So if you do a cake and buy a disney character from a store and put it on top, is that breaking the law or not?
This is an example of a "legal" licensed character cake. You can purchase figures, toys, or an edible image and place it on your cake. In these instances the proper royalties are paid to the copyright owner. You cannot recreate the likeness of a character yourself and sell it as the copyright owner will recieve no royalties.
I am going in a baby and toddler expo with my cakes in Oct and I want to make a "Princess Cake"...I was told that I can make Disney characters to go on the cake but I can't call it a "Disney Princess Cake" only a "Princess Cake"...does anyone know if I will get in trouble for making people that look like Cinderella, Ariel etc....
Disney is the most aggressive at prosecuting. We're talking about a $10,000+ fine here. If they can hold up a picture of your cake in court and a bystander can say, "Yes, that looks like Cinderella" -- you've broken the law.
Now, you can make a castle cake and place purchased Disney figurines on it. Or make a crown on a pillow or that sort of thing, but you just cannot recreate the likeness of any copyrighted character and expect to get away with it.
wow, i had no idea about this.
thanks for the informative thread
Disney is the most aggressive at prosecuting. We're talking about a $10,000+ fine here. If they can hold up a picture of your cake in court and a bystander can say, "Yes, that looks like Cinderella" -- you've broken the law.
I understand that for selling purposes, but, even for a cake contest? I don't sell cakes, so I've never really thought about it, but I did enter a cake I did of Nemo and friends into the Wilton contest last year and didn't even think about copyright infringements. I didn't sell the cake. Just curious.
Disney is the most aggressive at prosecuting. We're talking about a $10,000+ fine here. If they can hold up a picture of your cake in court and a bystander can say, "Yes, that looks like Cinderella" -- you've broken the law.
I understand that for selling purposes, but, even for a cake contest? I don't sell cakes, so I've never really thought about it, but I did enter a cake I did of Nemo and friends into the Wilton contest last year and didn't even think about copyright infringements. I didn't sell the cake. Just curious.
You can make the cake for a contest. There was a 3D Dora in the last Wilton contest. It won but I can't remember what place. As long as no money is being exchanged and you're not advertising it as a cake that can be purchased, it's okay.
My friend and I opened a cake shop (we sold it because we couldn't hold down our 'regular' jobs and keep up with it), but we were doing cookie bouquets along with cakes. The 'Cookie Bouquet' company sent us certified mail via attorney that if we did not remove the words cookie bouquet from our signs, our advertisements, and quit referring to our cookies as cookie bouquets, we could be sued. We had to answer within a time frame and send it back certified. They were very serious. (We didn't realize they owned the words 'cookie bouquet'. They even sent someone to purchase a valentine bouquet to ensure themselves that we weren't using their 'designs'. These companies are very serious.
That's like trademarking "Wedding Cake". The term has become so generic. I read about one of the court cases. One company they sued was called Gourmet Cookie Bouquets. They lost this suit because the word Gourmet was put in front. Still...who wants to be sued? I don't think a suit over the use of the term "cookie bouquet" in general would hold up in court. You just wouldn't want to name your company that.
Another of the companies sued had a website called cookie-bouquet.com(lost). The website was handed over to Cookie Bouquet.
i posted a topic some-what on the same thing the other day and i think(not sure) that as log as you change it a bit you are ok. enough to make it different than the "other one". like robe ad glasses a different color than HP. or a pink pony unicorn instead of a MLP. am i correct or just hearing what i want?
I really Hate that these companies are so MONEY Hungry that they will give Wilton the RIGHTS to MAKE these Pans and to Sell them to all of the Susie Homemakers of the world for 11.00 + tax and not think that they may be sold as CAKES.. Ugghhh As IF,, they dont have enough money. but, there is a store in my area that does sell them, and also RENTS out the Pans for you to Bake to Sell.. haha.. If they only Knew Huh? pfffffffftttt It just doesnt seem right now does it?
I am going to read the article about this.
Good Luck!
~Sweet~ =0)
I know of a couple of cake supply stores here in this area that rent character pans. Since I only make cakes for friends and family so far, it is nice that I can rent a pan for $2 or $3 instead of paying $10+ for something I know I will likely use only once.
Cindy
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