Former Co-Worker Taking Credit For My Work On Facebook
Decorating By chocolaterobot Updated 27 Jan 2013 , 9:05pm by AlyT
Has anyone had an experience with someone posting photos of your cakes to Facebook and taking credit for your work? My co-worker was recently fired from the cake/cupcake bakery I work at, and she recently posted photos of a bunch of cakes that I decorated and is claiming the credit for herself. I sent her a private message politely asking her to credit my work, not even asking her to remove the photos, and she replied by blocking me. I filed an intellectual property violation against her, and I'm waiting to see what will come of that. Do I have any chance of recourse? Any comments and suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
who took the pictures
whoever owns the actual photos has the right of way
AK8memphis is correct in regards to posting photos. However, if she is staing in any description or even implying that this is her work, you do have cause. That is legally known as misrepresentation. Se can be sued not only by you but also any clients who rely to a detrement.
She may have the photos but that does not give her the right to take credit for work that she did not do. She is obviously trying to deceive people into thinking she is capable of doing the quality work that they show (maybe she is but my guess she is not or she would be posting her own work, not yours and claiming it as hers). If she is outright claiming she did it you should have a good cause for the action you have taken, especially is she is trying to profit from them. To say "he who has the photos wins" is wrong because if you took a photo of the "Mona Lisa" and posted it, you certainly could not claim you painted it!!! (even if it is your photo). If she got fired and thinks you had anything to do with it I am sure that you will have a hard time getting her to agree to anything and that is why she blocked you - but this just proves the type of person she is and that is probably what contributed to it in the first place. Regardless, what you have done by going to facebook and saying she is claiming your work as hers and posting it as such could get her kicked off facebook so you might want to try getting in touch with her, tell her you have done this and if she does not not want lose her access all together suggest she either remove them or credit you as you had suggested before that happens and see if she does anything. She might be more afraid to lose her facebook access completely and decide to do the decent thing! GOOD LUCK!!
maybe delicious, but i respectfully disagree
i do not see that there is anything here that would interest a lawyer/judge in the least
if you took it to small claims court how would you quantify your damages
if you won in scc how would you collect whatever tenuous damages awarded
this is not actionable legally
nobody would touch it
lying is bad
lying online stupider still
illegal maybe --actionable no not really
i just think at some point you have to weigh whether it's worth a battle--i'm not saying not to do all you can up to a certain point
but this is not a hill i would die fighting on nor even stub my toe over
not to say it's not important -- of course it is and i'm sorry you've encountered an asshole but they are everywhere
and often our only solace is that they have a way of leveling out their own playing field--just stand back and watch
Has anyone had an experience with someone posting photos of your cakes to Facebook and taking credit for your work? My co-worker was recently fired from the cake/cupcake bakery I work at, and she recently posted photos of a bunch of cakes that I decorated and is claiming the credit for herself. I sent her a private message politely asking her to credit my work,
Well I hate to be the one to point out the obvious but...
Both of you being employed by a business means that ALL work done on business premises and covered by wages paid by the business belong to the BUSINESS. Not to either of you.
You may post such pictures to Fakebook or claim any other form of ownership ONLY after you have the written consent of the business who paid you to create those cakes for THEIR customers. Not yours.
And no business owner with a brain is going to give away THEIR intellectual property rights and advertising potential. The business possibly fired your former co-worker BECAUSE they posted pictures of what belongs to the BUSINESS on Fakebook as their own creative work. So don't go there.
AExcellent point BakingIrene! It I "work product." There are many client who know I used to work for a very respectful bakery in our area. When I went out on my own, I started a brand new portfolio. When anyone asks about work I did for the other bakery, I explain it is work product.
K8, you are correct that we all have to choose our battles. I still say that any client who relays on those statements to detriment can sue. Also, they can add punitive damages for the misrepresentation of skills. Should the op sue? I wouldn't. If she hasn't blocked me, is posted all over each post about how I was the one that did the work. Then, I'd let it go. Sure she can delete my posts etc.
I know it's frustrating. I know it's wrong. It's in the big, big no-no section. Just continue to do your best. If her work isn't as good, people will soon discover the truth.
In fact the right thing for the OP to do is to notify her employer that THEIR creations are being claimed as the former employee's work.
The business can get Fakebook to pull the entire page down.
just be careful/circumspect getting into a potentially tense situation with a liar regarding employment issues
She might be posting those pictures saying they are her creations but the true answer will be when a client wants a cake that she claimed was hers and can not recreate that.So in the end you will win anyway because sooner or later she will make herself a bad name.People are not stupid most the time and as we all know in this business clients go over the finished product with a fine tooth comb for sake of refunds.So when she cannot recreate what the picture is showing she will then be kicking herself in the booty.So let her hang herself and keep your good name by not reacting to her.I know it is hard because it is your work but she will look like the fool in the end.
AIf you do contact your employer about this, make sure you haven't posted pictures of any cakes made at work without your employer's permission.
AI agree with Izzy. Eventually she'll be found out. don't sweat it.
jen
AUnfortunately there will always be new customers who don't read reviews or check for FB comments (if any negative comments exist) so I don't think letting this resolve on its own will work.
If you do contact your employer about this, make sure you haven't posted pictures of any cakes made at work without your employer's permission.
REALLY. Even if you took the pictures with your own camera.
If your own nose is clean, then you simply go to the employer and say "hey boss take a look at this Fakebook page" and let them take it from there. Because it is THEIR designs, THEIR orders, and THEIR business to protect. No other words need to be said.
Unfortunately there will always be new customers who don't read reviews or check for FB comments (if any negative comments exist) so I don't think letting this resolve on its own will work.
I have to disagree here, I think if she stresses about this too much she will end up hating what she does. Let karma bite this girl, why waste money and time worrying about someone who has to steal somebody elses work. Why worry about if she will get caught or not, she will eventually get questioned why she cannot recreate something.She will be the one sitting with a cake in front of her at 3 am the day before a wedding and not knowing what technique was used on the cake. Legal battles can take so long and usually it never comes out the way you want it to. Karma does bite people and she will be bitten at 3 am crying over fondant and buttercream.
Thanks for all the comments! I did let my employer know what happened. By the way, my employer is OK with her employees taking credit for the work they do, as long as they're the ones who did it. The co-worker in question was fired not for posting photos, but because she wasn't as skilled as she presented herself, and our boss was dissatisfied with her work. I don't plan on going as far as suing; I'm not taking it THAT seriously. I guess my goal is to simply scare her into removing the photos, or at least make her realize what she's doing is unethical, at best.
AIf the employer already knows about this and is OK with it, it's pretty much a moot point. Since OP does not own the copyright to the pictures of the cakes she made, she has no standing to sue (not that a lawsuit would be productive anyway) or request the pictures to be taken down.
Thanks for all the comments! I did let my employer know what happened. By the way, my employer is OK with her employees taking credit for the work they do, as long as they're the ones who did it. The co-worker in question was fired not for posting photos, but because she wasn't as skilled as she presented herself, and our boss was dissatisfied with her work.
OK.
You went to Fakebook as a private person and your ex-co-worker blocked you.
If your employer goes to Fakebook as a business, then the whole page gets taken down. End of story. The employer can warn the fired ex-employee in many ways that you cannot.
Hi Friends,
How are you all ?
I'm new in this forum.
AThis person claims its their work then when someone hires them thinking they can do all the stuff you did hey will get what's coming to them. I like to put opaque words across pictures that have your name or business name on them so noone can steal them. Good luck to you!
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