Has anyone ever asked a big time cake professional if it was ok to use there cake design and how do the usually respond?

Cake designs cannot be copyrighted. Just do it and give credit to the creator of the original.

What are you going to do is the "big time cake professional" tells you no? Or is this just a hypothetical question?

Just curious.

Ok thanks cakepro, i was not sure how that worked. i will be sure to give credit to the original cake decorator. can they tell you no? the cake is going to be for a fundraiser and will be auctioned off

Sure, they can tell you no, but they have no "right" to. If you were told no, you would have to decide if you were going to do it anyway or not. So why ask?

Most people with whom I have talked about this subject are flattered to have their designs reproduced, and it is good manners to credit the original creator.