Johnny Cupcakes designs nicked by Pastry
January 16th, 2009 by poisonrational
YTWWN: also re-posted by AMAC(thanks), but this one had all the links working. Johnny Cupcakes posted this on emptees recently.
Randomly putting baked items on t-shirts and having an entire brand revolve around it is free for anyone to do. I don’t own food. However, I did indeed start this brand of mine 8 years ago, having it’s main focus be revolved around cupcakes and anything associated with it. In the independent t-shirt industry, I believe I was the first person to go all out with this cupcake / baking motif. I’ve made a tremendous amount of sacrifices and risks to make it the homegrown, family run, fun, limited business that it is, since I dropped out of high school and sold my t-shirts out of my rusty car. With my brands main focus on my customers and their experience, I think I’ve been doing a pretty swell job at it.
Last Spring I was alerted by a customer who happened to work at a popular mall sportswear store. This customer of mine caught a glimpse of his manager’s catalog which had various items that were being released in the near future at all of their mall locations. One of the items in this companies catalog was a “Make Pastry Not War” t-shirt. Not only was it a very similar slogan, but it had the same EXACT placement, font, EVEN A CUPCAKE in the center of the t-shirt. This was no coincidence. Weeks later my inbox was flooded with furious Johnny Cupcakes customers who saw this same catalog with the ‘Pastry’ design in it. I could of made a big deal about it online, making everyone else aware of it. Instead, I decided not to be a cry baby and post it all over the internet, so I sought out a different route. I decided to contact my trademark attorney, who then contacted the owners of Pastry / Pastry Kicks. We got in touch with the President of a certain mall chain-store who ended up declining the order of all ‘Make Pastry Not War’ t-shirts.
Recently I’ve received several e-mails from confused and upset customers of mine. Now, 2 other designs have appeared on their website. You be the judge…
The thing that baffles me, is why would two girls who’re famous via MTV, have to stoop so low to create such similar items, never mind brand? Maybe they’re both really great girls who happened to hire some not-so-great designers? I’m not sure what the case is, but I do know that this should be brought to everyones attention.
Spread the word, re-post all of this, and/or express your opinions to ALL of the contacts below:
Customer service toll free Number
1-800-970-0776
Mon-Fri 9AM-6PM. Sat 10AM-5PM (ET).
http://www.pastrykicks.com/contact/
http://www.myspace.com/pastrykicks
I guess their other contact number is;
212-246-1900
And it looks like these are actual e-mail address’s of people who represent Pastry;
dennisd@vidagoup.com
kimsnow@vidagroup.com
kevinstorch@vidagroup.com
davidm@vidagroup.com
alharris@vidagroup.com
Try to voice your professional opinion to all of those contacts.
Thank you for the support guys..
(145 votes, average: 4.58 out of 5)
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The first one is definitely a rip. The second is more of an idea rip rather than just copying the design. The third one is just a mandatory shirt for something with a bakery theme.
First one is definately a rip, but the new shirts are really different; the font and illustration is different (there isn’t even a cupcake on the ’support’ shirt, it looks like a perfume bottle?), and they changed some words (bakery/shop, fresh/freshly ).
They probably ripped the idea of the Cupcakes shirts, but they changed it so much that I don’t see how those Pastry shirts can be hurting Johnny Cupcakes’ business.
[...] You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice Share and [...]
I’m starting to feel bad for Johnny Cupcakes. First Urban Outfitters is ripping them off, and now Pastry’s doing it too.
An idea is not protected by copyright laws but the expression of a idea is.
I think they could have a claim here. If Pastry tries to trade off Johnny Cupcakes marketing and pass off the product as there own and it has damaged Johnny Cupcakes they could also have a claim. It is confusing customers so I think he could have a claim due to that. There is a lot similarities in product which is the base of Johnny Cupcakes business. It is very obvious this other company is trying to cash in on his concept and ideas more then once.
It all boils down to what a judge would decide in a court of law. In this case I think Johnny Cupcakes would win. The more evidence his gets and customers who are confused the better chance he has in court.
http://blogue.us/2009/01/16/pastry-caught-stealing-cupcakes/
I just went to Pastry website. Johnny shouldn’t worry. They are not trying to copy company imagine. ( their stuff is so awful tacky gold disco shit) However, the first t-shirt is a rip. I think he can take legal action. ( but them girls have some money to Lawyer up). You shouldn’t worry about that either, in this tough economic times so many big companies that sell crap to malls are going to go out of business. They may make some money off your ideas initially but I doubt their company will be around in a few years. Karma always wins out in the long run.
it’s not like johnny cupcakes hasn’t ripped off people either…
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/4342/scarfvu6.jpg
poor fred perry
[...] Earle (Cupcakes) called bullspit in a post on a blog called You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice: Not only was it a very similar slogan, but it had the same EXACT placement, font, EVEN A CUPCAKE [...]
really…even billabong steals johnny’s designs.
i guess–the highest form of flattery is when someone copies you.
Oh please, NOT the flattery argument…..
Stealing a design is not flattering, it’s making easy money by using the work and talent of someone else.
I agree Chloe. That argument is the thing that thieves use to justify their chicanery.
Johnny’s cupcake looks like a mushroom cloud. Lost in the copy. So much cooler in the original.
[...] According to Racked.com, the Simmons sisters are being accused of ripping t-shirt designs from another t-shirt line called Johnny Cupcakes: [...]
[...] CLICK HERE to read the complete nitty gritty. [...]
Shit. I meant to say “I agree with Maaike, Chloe. That argument is the one thieves often use to justify their stealing.”
There. That’s better. Holy eff up!
What’s sad is a someone with huge exposure and access to thousands of stars had to ride off the coat tails of someone else that works very hard to establish their line. As someone is just starting and only wishing I could get to JC’s level, it’s sad to see something like this happening to independent levels.
GOod luck JC and can’t wait to see what happens.
them ladies have deep pockets for real, their uncle and ex aunt runs one of the successful clothing line named Phat farm and BabyPhat, yup that first design a rip
I wonder if they even saw Johnny’s stuff or designer team ripped it on the low down
[...] Well, we hurt our discerning eyes following this and we think Johnny definitely has an argument here. One shirt is an obvious knock-off and the others bear an unsettling likeness. I think these girls have a serious issue at hand and they better fire their designer because I think it’s pretty safe to say they don’t design this stuff themselves. We haven’t even seen them work on anything related to the business since the series on MTV started. [...]
Hell, even the name “Johnny Cupcakes” is unoriginal. Sopranos, anyone? That’d be like creating a brand of canned soup and calling it Soup Nazi’s Minestrone or something.. shit
Yeah Ryan. I bet thats just what Johnny was thinking. Let me name my brand off that gay dude from the Sopranos. Detective Columbo over here cracked the case of the cupcakes !!
FYI: Johnny Cupcakes was created in 2001 while that Johnny Cakes episode of the sopranos aired in 2006.
As for Pastry, Did you guys really expect to see original concepts and ideas from two spoiled bitches with no real talent ? Those ho’s should just stick to fucking talentless d-listers like Bow Wow and TK and drop this whole clothing brand shit.
The first one is a rip; no way on the second two.
You do realize your credibility to spot rip-offs is great diminished when you put the second & third example up for scrutiny, right?
[...] thought we wouldn’t notice » Blog Archive » Johnny Cupcakes designs nicked by Pastry you thought we wouldn’t notice » Blog Archive » Johnny Cupcakes designs nicked by Pastry Source: youthoughtwewouldntn… Randomly putting baked items on t-shirts and having an [...]
make “insert name here” not war
hardly original, both shirts shouldn’t even be around
wow. first Urban Outfitters. Then Volcom. Now a brand whose existence exists solely because of 2 girls being born into a well-off family. JC does most of everything involved with the brand himself. Why do people keep ripping him off? For shame.
[...] According to Racked.com, the Simmons sisters are being accused of ripping t-shirt designs from another t-shirt line called Johnny Cupcakes: [...]