Character Cakes Copyright
I have been a hobby cake decorator for years and have made cakes for friends and family as favors, my Gruffalo cake was for a friend and so was the van, copyright didnt even enter my head when i made them as i wasnt selling them.
This year i have decided to do it as a business and have been getting everything i need ready. One of the things i have been looking into lately is copyright.
Do you even realise that you need permission to re-create well known characters into icing to put onto a cake to sell it?
I started emailing around – Moshi Monsters were happy for me to re-create their characters and logo as long as it wasnt for mass production.
HIT Entertainment (who cover characters like Bob the Builder/Postman Pat/Thomas the Tank) say no unless you have a licence.
DISNEY – so far have received no response.
So when my cake business is fully up and running – I will be saying no to making character cakes, which is a pity but i dont want to breech copyright and get into trouble!
2 Comments
My understanding about character cake pans is they are available for the general public, however not to be used for commercial use without a licence. When it comes to charater cakes I usually suggest they purchase a charater decoration and we can incorporate that into the cake. I completed a Thomas the Tank Engine cake last year and the mom purchased the Thomas and I created the cake around it. However, I did recently make a cars cake and didn’t even think about copy write.
I wonder how other decorators feel about copy write laws and if they have any standards they follow. J:~D
that’s a good idea about getting them to purchase a toy to go on a cake.
