I'm a big cake advocate..... I mean, I like to eat the things, but the creative possibilities that cakes possess have been multiplied manyfold over the last few years. TV shows like Ace of Cakes have turned the once humble cake into confections with real cultural capital. A cake can make a point more powerfully than flowers...and certainly more powerfully than PowerPoint.
W. Neil Berrett famously left his job at a shipyard in San Francisco last year by handing in a sheet cake with his resignation in blue icing. Since a certain JetBlue flight attendant raised the bar last month, the media has been obsessed with creative ways to tell your employers to kiss off.
People Magazine's blog ran a post on creative ways to quit one's job and contacted Berrett for permission to use the photo. Berrett told the intern who contacted him that they would have to license the photo from him (and pay for the privelege). Needless to say, People ran the article anyway without paying Berrett for his image. Berrett sent out a cease-and-desist letter to People. They took the image down, but had infringed on Berrett's copyright for almost a week.
Berrett then sent People an invoice for the licensing of his photograph.... on a cake. I don't know if that's a great way to punish People, but it certainly got their attention. No word yet on whether or not they've paid up.
Lunch time is coming up, and I'm kind of hungry. I didn't license the above photos, so I'm kind of hoping a cease-and-desist cake shows up soon.
LINK to original BoingBoing story
