Disney cake wars in Croatia.
In late October last year, a law firm sent a letter to numerous pastry shops announcing that they were no longer allowed to produce cakes for children’s birthday parties with popular characters, like Ninja Turtles, Sponge Bob, Peppa Pig and others, because it violates the copyright law since these characters are legally protected. The notification was sent by the law firm on behalf of Fun Cake Factory, apparently the only company which has the right to sell cakes with the protected characters since they have just become an exclusive partner of Finsbury Food Group, which holds the license for Disney characters, reports Glas Istre on January 14, 2016.
Unlike pastry shops in Zagreb, owners of many Istrian pastry shops have still not received a written ban. “We have not received anything, and all information we have is what we have read in the media”, said Marino Pilat, an owner of the well-known pastry shop Concettino in Poreč, who has his shops all over Istria. He says that it is necessary to read the contract and see what is really prohibited.
“There is speculation that the ban involves various Disney characters, but I really do not know”, says Pilat. Asked whether children’s cakes with cartoon characters really are the most popular, he says that children’s wishes are varied but it is true that these characters are in demand. Pilat said that, if there is indeed the ban, they would have to adjust and would offer similar characters (though the question is how children would react).
Tomislav Ljutić, director of Fun Cake Factory, says that, in addition to the Disney characters, the company has the exclusive rights for characters owned by Nickelodeon, Astley Baker Davies and Universal Studios, so it might turn out that pastry shops will not have a single popular character which they could offer to children. However, the company itself does not have any pastry shops, but rather sells prepared, frozen cakes to shopping malls, so it is now in question whether children will be able to buy custom-made cakes with favourite characters.
Pastry shops which have received the ban are confused because, as they say, no one knows for sure what they can and cannot do. They have instituted proceedings to see the contract which has been signed by Fun Cake Factory with the Finsbury Food Group, in order to know what they should do.
Although Tomislav Ljutić points out that the notification has not been sent to pastry shops as a threat and that he does not expect any lawsuits to follow, the fact that notifications have been sent mostly to pastry shops in Zagreb might demonstrate that the goal was actually to get rid of their immediate competition in Zagreb and surrounding areas. The question is what will happen with all those who produce cakes at home and whether the authorities will send inspectors to visit children’s birthday parties and check what kind of cakes are being used.
