Croatian cake pirates threatened with lawsuits

(credit: Vianey Campos)

As Harlan Ellison once said about Disney, "Nobody fucks with The Mouse." Even if you live in Zagreb, Croatia, the long hand of The Mouse can reach in and change your birthday party plans. That's what several bakers in Zagreb discovered when they received cease-and-desist letters warning them to stop making cakes featuring popular Disney characters from Star Wars, Frozen, and more.

According to Croatian paper Jutarnji, the letters came from a law firm representing the Zagreb chain Fun Cake Factory, which has an exclusive license to make Disney-themed cakes via its partnership with British confectioner Finsbury Food Group. Ana MarceliA, a local Zagreb confectioner who received one of the cease-and-desist letters, told the paper it would be a "huge loss" for her financially and difficult to explain to customers requesting Disney-themed cakes.

Apparently Disney has been cracking down on copyright infringing cakes lately. In September of last year, the company hired a law firm to sue Michigan baker Wilson's Wild Cake Creations for making cakes that featured images of "Darth Vader and son." Julie Triedman notes in American Lawyer that Disney and LucasFilm called for the "seizure of 'any molds, screens, patterns, plates, negatives, machinery or equipment used for making' the offending images." The owners of Wilson's Wild Cake Creations filed for bankruptcy in October. That situation wasn't new. Way back in 1992, Disney threatened two Singapore bakeries with lawsuits unless they stopped making cakes based on Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

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