Re: I might 'sack' this and go into cakes!
Posted: 02 Jul 2011, 15:18
As we all know, we are constantly making sure that we follow strict copyright guidelines in creating our products.
If I was to have a window full of Toy Story Mugs and Spongebob T-shirts (that I made myself) I would no doubt sell them all but it would be a ticking time-bomb waiting for the 'copyright police' to come knocking at my shop door.
BUT, in the town where we have a shop we have a couple of cake shops who constantly make cakes with spongebob, mickey mouse, toy story etc and display them in their windows and facebook pages ................... and no one bats an eyelid - and they come under the same copyright law as anything else!
"Copyright law not only applies to software, books, pictures, and video; it also applies to a bakery selling decorated cakes and other cake items. At one time or another, most people have ordered a cake for a special occasion. Especially for birthdays, many people request that their cake be decorated with popular cartoon, television, movie, or comic book characters. Most people don't realise is that it is a violation of copyright law for a Cake Decorator to decorate any product they make with an identical copy or close likeness of copyrighted movie, TV, cartoon, or comic book character without permission of the copyright owners. To do so can cost the Decorator and the customer a great deal of money for damages under the law."
You could argue that they may be using the licenced figures but come on, most are decorated with icing that has been made/moudled into the specific character or even iced with a piping bag.
Look - I'm not bitter and twisted, far from it and I wish anyone well in business - I posted this for opinions not arguments.
If I was to have a window full of Toy Story Mugs and Spongebob T-shirts (that I made myself) I would no doubt sell them all but it would be a ticking time-bomb waiting for the 'copyright police' to come knocking at my shop door.
BUT, in the town where we have a shop we have a couple of cake shops who constantly make cakes with spongebob, mickey mouse, toy story etc and display them in their windows and facebook pages ................... and no one bats an eyelid - and they come under the same copyright law as anything else!
"Copyright law not only applies to software, books, pictures, and video; it also applies to a bakery selling decorated cakes and other cake items. At one time or another, most people have ordered a cake for a special occasion. Especially for birthdays, many people request that their cake be decorated with popular cartoon, television, movie, or comic book characters. Most people don't realise is that it is a violation of copyright law for a Cake Decorator to decorate any product they make with an identical copy or close likeness of copyrighted movie, TV, cartoon, or comic book character without permission of the copyright owners. To do so can cost the Decorator and the customer a great deal of money for damages under the law."
You could argue that they may be using the licenced figures but come on, most are decorated with icing that has been made/moudled into the specific character or even iced with a piping bag.
Look - I'm not bitter and twisted, far from it and I wish anyone well in business - I posted this for opinions not arguments.