bake - March 2017 - Cake12

LICENSING ISSUES

AN IMPORTANT REMINDER: BAKERS NEED PERMISSION FIRST TO USE
COPYRIGHTED SCHOOL LOGOS.
In the midst of graduation cake
orders and design requests, it can
be easy to forget that if you recreate
schools' logos, mascots, and/or slogans
on your bakery products without first
obtaining their written permission,
you will likely run into serious legal
issues in the way of trademark and
copyright infringement.
It's important to do this legwork
early. You'll rest easier knowing you
have those approval letters on hand
now, before the season arrives.
Rick's Bakery, for example, is an
officially licensed University of Arkansas
bakery in Arkansas and sells dozens
of approved Razorback products. The
licensing process cost owner Rick
Boone several thousand dollars, which
was less than expected. And 10 percent
of all University of Arkansas sales go
to the university for royalties. Cake
decorators only use images that are preapproved by the university.
It's always safest to work with cake
decorating suppliers who handle the
licensing process.
"We are very cautious with licensed
characters and logos. A lot of times
people want us to draw a college logo
on their cake, but we shy away from
anything that is copyrighted," says
Marc Serrao, owner of Oakmont Bakery
in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. "We go
through DecoPac."
If you are piping popular movie
characters onto cakes, reprinting
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2017

copyrighted pictures-or serving
products with logos from your local
high school or university-you are
inviting litigation into the bakery.
It doesn't matter if you are a small
bakery, a supermarket or an at-home
baker. If you sell a cake with a licensed
character that was not purchased
from a licensee, it is illegal. It's safe
to assume that every movie, television
or popular book character has been
trademarked by its source. When
it comes to cakes, bakeries need a
license to decorate.
According to the International
Trademark Association, a trademark
license is an agreement between
the trademark owner and another
party-the licensee-that permits
reproduction and sales of the
trademarked good. Cake decorating
companies such as DecoPac and
Lucks are licensees. Their licensing
agreements protect bakers from
trademark infringement.
When dealing with licensed
characters, there are two main
options: cake-decorating kits and
edible print-outs. The system is a
licensed-character catalogue for
edible print-outs.
Bakeries pay per print. Retail
bakery owners like Ray Fleckenstein
appreciate the print-on-demand
system because at any time, he can
handle requests for any licensed
character sold by DecoPac.

THE GRADUATION ISSUE

C?
WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY?
In the United States, Intellectual
Property falls into three
categories:
* Patent: A property right
granted by the U.S. government
that excludes others-for a time-
from making, using or selling an
invention.
* Trademark: A protection
on words (and phrases), names,
symbols, colors and sounds.
Trademarks indicate the source
of a product, and they can be
renewed forever. Example: the
Shrek franchise; Earmark: ™
for an unregistered trademark
(this may be used regardless of
registration with the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office) or ® for a
federally registered trademark.
* Copyright: A protection on
authored, expressed works-
writings, music and art. Copyrights
are good for the life of the
author plus 70 years. Example:
photographs; Earmark: ©
Source: United States Patent and
Trademark Office
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